Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc
by BoxinShrimp
Summary: Many Fairy Tales exist in Remnant, and many of them are actually true. When you're a member of a race of Dragons whose semblances allows them to turn into human form, you probably believe in even the craziest sounding Fairy Tales. Jaune Arc is just your normal everyday Dragon sent to live life as a normal everyday human huntsman, until a certain Blonde Brawler discovers his secret.
1. Dorks and Dragons

There were a lot of fairy tales on Remnant. There are tons of books on them in the library, after all. Jaune Arc would consider himself a firm believer in most fairy tales, even if he never truly had much confirmation on most of them. Although the reason for him believing in said fairy tales wasn't because he was a starry eyed dreamer like his friend Ruby Rose was, no not at all in fact. The reason he considered himself a firm believer in fairy tales is that he was, by all accounts, a living fairy tale.

Jaune Arc had been sent to the prestigious Beacon Academy in the kingdom of Vale so that he could become a Huntsman and experience all that the world had to offer, both the positives and negatives. But most of all, he was sent to become a Huntsman to experience the thrill and glory of combat with mankinds most vicious enemy, the creatures of Grimm.

While he never really chose the path himself, he found that he really didn't mind it either. His parents had a tight leash around him ever since he had been born, and now he was finally free to experience what the outside world had to offer. And it had to offer a lot in comparison to his tiny little village on the nearby island of Vytal.

His initiation was rather rough, but he made it through alive. The coming weeks however, were even worse. Just as he started bonding with his new team, the one that he had been assigned leader as much to his shock, he began running into problems one after the other.

Jaune sat on his bed, looking down at the floor. He was certainly glad his teammates were out for the day, it gave him time to collect his thoughts on what had happened last week during his trip to Forever Fall.

When he first activated his semblance. Normally he would have been ecstatic, but the reason for him activating it was one of his major problems that was now thankfully solved.

The schools bully, Cardin Winchester, had been heckling him ever since the semester started. And things only got worse when Jaune and Pyrrha began training together on the dorm roof at night. He may have accidentally thought about the fact that he forged his applications to Beacon out loud. Loud enough for Cardin to hear him from his open window, which resulted in Jaune being blackmailed by the bully.

Eventually, a week of suffering finally ended during the class trip to Forever Fall, where Cardin wanted Jaune to pelt Pyrrha with a jar of sap, so they could release a swarm of wasps as an act of revenge for some earlier humiliation that Cardin had received in a training match against her.

Jaune had ended up throwing the jar of sap on Cardin, in an attempted refusal to carry out his dirty work. The bully and his team had taken to pummeling Jaune before Cardin himself decided to strike him with his mace. Just before the mace struck, Jaune recoiled and a brilliant flash of light engulfed the area.

When Jaune opened his eyes, he saw that... he had done it. He had activated his semblance for the first time since he set out for Beacon, though only a portion of his true self had revealed itself, the appendage that he summoned had blocked Cardin's attack well enough and blinded everyone nearby to boot. But he couldn't just keep it out, that was against the clans law. So he quickly struggled to hide it again, before it disappeared in a flash of fire.

The rest of the trip had gone... interestingly to say the least. An Ursa ended up attacking Cardin, and Jaune had stepped in to save the boy despite all that he had been put through by the bully. After that, he made Cardin swear to leave him and his team alone again, which the bully fearfully agreed to.

And then Jaune ended up getting called to the Headmasters office a week after the incident had taken place. This was the second major problem.

As Professor Goodwitch escorted him into the elevator, he couldn't help but gulp nervously at the intense stare he was being given on the ride up to the Headmasters Office.

"So uh... why did the Headmaster want to see me again?"

"I am not sure myself, Mr. Arc. But he told me that this meeting would determine whether or not you would continue to attend this academy, so you had best think over what you did meticulously."

The rest of the short ride was spent in silence until the door to the elevator opened. The two of them stepped out and made for the Headmasters desk, where Jaune sat down. A hand from behind the Headmasters chair waved to Ms. Goodwitch.

"That will be all, Glynda. You're dismissed."

"Sir?"

"This is a private matter between me and Mr. Arc."

"I understand."

Ms. Goodwitch gave a small glance at Jaune before she walked back toward the elevator. The Headmaster waited until he heard the doors close before he finally decided to spin around.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Arc. I trust you know why you are here, yes?"

"Uh, actually sir. I don't."

"Oh? I assumed that you would, given what your documents indicated..."

Jaune gulped nervously as the Headmaster reached under his desk and procured a few papers, placing them on the desk before sliding them in front of Jaune. As he leaned forward to look at the papers the Headmaster presented to him, he gulped nervously yet again. They were his manuscripts and applications for Beacon.

"I... I uh, I can explain, sir."

"Please, by all means do, Mr. Arc."

"Well, you see, I uh, I just wanted to attend Beacon really badly. Bad enough that I... y'know..."

"The forging of these documents is not the reason I called you here today, Mr. Arc."

Jaune blinked in confusion before he leaned back in his chair. "Wait, what?"

"I called you here today to talk about this particular emblem that was used to stamp said documents."

The Headmaster pointed to said emblem on the sheet of paper, it was the emblem that Jaune generally used for himself but with one added detail. There was something he hadn't notice about it before, but there was a smaller symbol inside the first crescent. A small depiction of what seemed to be some sort of horned reptilian head.

"You see, this emblem of yours. I recognized it from somewhere. And that is when I began doing research on it, and I must say that it was a very well hidden emblem to be sure. But not hidden well enough."

"I uh, I don't understand."

"I know who you are, Mr. Arc. There is no sense trying to hide that fact now."

"Uuh...I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

"Come now, what would your clan say about you feigning ignorance?"

"But, the clan told me specifically to HIDE that-"

Jaune slapped a hand over his mouth, although he was far too late. The Headmaster leaned forward slightly, a small smirk gracing his face.

"And what exactly did they tell you to hide, Mr. Arc?"

Jaune let out a heavy sigh as he moved his hand from his mouth. He silently stood up and closed his eyes, his hands clenching into fists as he struggled to activate his semblance for a second time. For a moment it seemed as though nothing would happen, but when he thought back to that day and the unbridled anger he felt towards the bully, he finally felt the same power rush into him that he had the same day he blocked Cardin's attack in Forever Fall. However this time, instead of a flash of light, two small columns of flame burst from his back.

And as they dissipated, they left two beautiful, golden dragon wings protruding from his back.

The Headmasters eye lit up as he glanced at the student before him.

"So it seems my theory was correct. You are indeed, a Dragon."

"Y...yeah. I am. Wait, your theory?"

"And here I thought Dragons that could take human form were just a silly Fairy Tale."

"No offense sir but uh, you seem really calm about all this."

"While it isn't every day that I am graced by the presence of a Dragon in my office, I can assure you, Mr. Arc, that I have seen much more than your kind."

"Wait, you've seen Dragons before?"

"Let's just say that I have had dealings with your kind in the past. You may hide your wings now if you wish."

Jaune gave a brief nod before making his wings vanish, it would be far easier to sit back in his chair with them gone.

"So, Mr. Arc. Why did you feel the need to forge documents to attend this academy?"

"Well uh, it really wasn't totally my idea. Mr. Ozpin, are you uh, familiar with Dragon Clan Traditions?"

"I am, but the details are a bit fuzzy. If you would please? Refresh my memory."

"Uh, right, okay. Well, every clan is divided into different families. And the first born son of each family is sent out into the world to become a great warrior to bring glory to their clan."

"I see. And I assume that you are your families first born?"

"Heh, yeah. They tried a lot. I've got seven sisters."

"And correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Arc, but I do believe that you are a Golden Dragon, are you not?"

"Uh, yeah, how did you know?"

"I could tell by the way your scales glistened. And the golden dragons are considered to be the strongest of all the dragon races, is it not?"

"Yeah... but... you still haven't explained how you know all this..."

"Mr. Arc, I'm going to tell you something. I have been to many places in this world, and I have seen many things that people would consider simple Fairy Tales. Your kind are among those many things."

"Uh... okay... so then why am I uh... here again?"

The Headmaster slowly got up from his chair, before he turned and walked to the window.

"Mr. Arc, I owe your kind a great deal. And you are a part of my debt that needs to be repaid."

"Oh... I uh, I'm sorry?"

"There is no need to be, because I am more than grateful to have a Dragon of your caliber attend this prestigious academy that prides itself on taking in those from all walks of life."

The Headmaster turned back to the boy with a smile on his face.

"Even those that 'don't exist' as some people say."

"Uuh... thanks, headmaster? But I just don't understand how you can be so calm about all this..."

"You wouldn't be the first person to say such a thing."

The Headmaster strolled back to his desk before opening a drawer, his hand reaching in for something specific.

"Tell me something, Mr. Arc. Have you mastered your Semblance yet?"

Jaune glanced at the floor, a sigh escaping from his mouth as he did.

"No sir, I only just tapped into it about a week ago."

"I see. Well, it would be quite bothersome for you to accidentally transform into your draconic form in the middle of the campus..."

"...Just how much do you know about Dragons, sir?"

"Much more than any regular human ever would. And that is the reason why I called you in here so suddenly."

The Headmaster finally found what he was looking for, procuring a keycard with Jaune's name printed on it. He tossed it onto the desk in front of Jaune, who glanced at it in confusion.

"Perhaps it would be better for you to have a private location for your training, so we can avoid any incidents. I know that Dragons tend to keep themselves disguised for as long as possible as to not cause panic."

"Is this... a pass for the private training rooms, sir?"

"Indeed it is. I expect you to utilize it well, Mr. Arc."

"So... does this mean I'm not in trouble?"

"Of course not. I understand fully why you forged your documents now, and I believe it would be rather unjust to punish you for such a thing."

Jaune's face lit up as he grabbed the keycard and stowed it in his pocket.

"Thanks, Headmaster Ozpin! I never thought I'd actually meet another person who understood me!"

The Headmaster smiled in return as he sat down.

"While I cannot say that I fully understand you, Mr. Arc, I can say that I will try my best to do so. You are dismissed, unless you have any other questions."

"No sir, and thanks again!"

Jaune began to make for the elevator before the Headmaster called to him once more.

"Oh, and one more thing Mr. Arc. I expect regular updates on how your training is advancing. I will inform Glynda that they are to be sent directly to me."

"You got it, Headmaster! Thanks again!"

As Jaune stepped into the elevator, he gave the Headmaster one final wave before the doors closed.

Ozpin glanced down at the documents on his desk, his hand brushing over the emblem one last time before he picked them up and deposited them in one of the drawers. He briefly thought back to initiation day, when he was observing the boy clumsily traversing the forest with his partner Ms. Nikos. He knew the child was unique, but he never could have imagined that he would be something THAT unique. It was pure chance that he recognized the emblem on his documents.

He would be a great asset against the coming darkness though, that was to be certain.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Another story, this time with another twist. I like writing lots of twists into my RWBY fic settings, if you haven't read my other stories.  
This time it's inspired by the old Disney cartoon, American Dragon Jake Long.

I feel like this introduction might be a bit rushed, but there are two major reasons for this.  
The first is that I didn't want to retread over all the events from the beginning of the series up to this point because they would be exactly the same.

And the second reason is that Ozpin is mysterious enough to know about one of Remnants "fairy tales" already, so it would only make sense that he would be aware of some of the others. And of course he would be accepting of a Dragon in his school, the man said it himself he accepts students from all walks of life.

Oh, and despite the fact that I said this story was inspired by American Dragon Jake Long, I'm going to go ahead and say now that there won't be a bunch of fantasy creatures running around in Vale or anything. It's just focused on Jaune and him actually being a dragon.


	2. Cruising for a Bruising

Gazing into the mirror, Jaune would be lying to himself if he said he was completely used to seeing a human face stare back at him.

But today, he was hoping to change that situation just a little bit. He gazed down at the keycard in his hands, fumbling it around with his fingers as he did. He really had to take a step back and admire his luck. He survived initiation, got partnered up with an amazing girl who was great at just about anything you could imagine, his other two teammates were just as awesome, the Headmaster knew he was a dragon and was really cool about it and on top of all that, he was the leader of his own team.

Well, he was still on the fence about that last one. Sure, being the teams leader is great, but he didn't really see himself as a good first choice for such a job. He barely knew how his own Dragon powers worked and he certainly had absolutely no clue on how to fight with a sword and shield.

But the thing was, he had Pyrrha to help train him when it came to conventional weaponry, something she seemed to really enjoy. When it came to how his Dragon half worked though, he was completely on his own with that. Well, at least until he could find that book he brought along with him.

One of the village elders, Reus, gave him the book. Reus had always had a soft spot for Jaune, if he had to wager a guess it was probably because he pitied him. The green dragon elder had always offered to sneak him out for some kind of training, but Jaune had always refused, not wanting to upset his parents. The day Jaune left for Beacon, Reus had given him the book containing a decent amount of details describing dragon anatomy and various other types of information on each of the different breeds of dragon. And somehow he had lost it. The first few days on campus he ripped up the room trying to find it, but when he turned up empty he had to assume the worst. That he had dropped it somewhere else on campus.

Perhaps maybe he'd find it eventually, but for now he had decided he'd worry about himself.

Jaune slowly crept out of the bathroom. Glancing at the clock, it was five fifteen in the morning and all his teammates were still sound asleep. He didn't want to wake them for quite a few reasons, the first just being courtesy. The second was that he really didn't want anyone tagging along with him for his special training, since he wasn't supposed to tell people he was, y'know, a dragon. And the third, and most important reason.

Nora.

If Nora was ever woken up any earlier then seven thirty at the absolute earliest by anyone other than Ren, there would be hell to pay. They all learned that during the first few days when Nora grabbed Jaune and flung him across the room in a sleep induced rage.

Today was the first day that he would start training with his semblance, though. Hopefully he would master it enough to shift back into his old form. He knew he wasn't exactly going to be strolling around campus as a Dragon any time soon, but being stuffed into a smaller human form all the time was starting to bother him now that he actually had the option of changing between the two. He was sure that he could find an occasional private spot to just unfurl his true form and relax a bit.

Jaune had managed to completely get dressed and grab his sword and shield without disturbing any of his teammates, or so he thought. He quickly grabbed his keys to the dorm and scurried out the door, unbeknownst to him however, his partner was a very light sleeper. Even the small crack of light he had let in from the hall as he stepped out of the room had disturbed her sleeping greatly.

As he began walking off toward the training hall, he heard the sounds of a door opening.

"...Jaune...?"

He instinctively froze up and slowly turned to see that Pyrrha was now peeking out from the door in her pajamas, half awake.

"It's five in the morning, where are you going?"

"Oh, hey, Pyrrha. Sorry for waking you."

Pyrrha cracked a very sleepy smile as she rubbed her eyes. "It's fine, Jaune, but where are you going?"

"Oh uh... I was just going out for a uh, very VERY early morning jog. That's all."

"Oh... That sounds lovely, would you mind if I maybe join you?"

"No of course no- I mean YES, yes I uh I would!"

"...Jaune? Is something wrong?"

"N-no, no. Nothing at all. I used to jog alone in the morning like this all the time back on Vytal, it helps clear my head. And uh, it's still not clear after all that stuff with Cardin."

"...Oh. Alright, I see..."

Jaune could easily see that his partner was rather downtrodden over his denial, so he decided to extend an offer to maybe lighten her spirits.

"How about we go together some other time instead?"

His offer certainly worked like a charm, as the redhead gladiator perked up as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Sure! I'd love to, just let me know ahead of time!"

"Heh, alright then. But for now, you go back to sleep. And be careful not to wake up Nora on your way back in."

Pyrrha shivered a bit at the thought of waking up her teammate and gave a firm nod in response. Jaune waited until she went back inside and closed the door before turning to head to the training halls.

Jaune picked the first private room that was situated in the very back end of the hall and stepped in, swiping the card on the door behind him to lock it so nobody would walk in on him possibly turning into a giant dragon. That would be bad.

As he began fiddling with the nearby control panel, he selected the most basic training dummy. In response, the room whirred to life as a panel on the back wall opened up. Out of the panel, a cylindrical robot wheeled itself out onto the training area and unfolded the top half into a more humanoid looking appearance.

Jaune marveled at the sight, machinery this advanced was something he never really saw much of. The Elders in his clan forbid anything outside of the most basic of technology, scrolls being the most advanced thing that you could find in their town. So his first trip to Vale was very overwhelming to say the least, and even now he was still being surprised.

As Jaune strolled up to the training dummy, he placed his sword and shield on the ground nearby and took a very sloppy boxing stance.

"Okay, Jaune. You can do this. Let's try stick with some basics. I'd probably push myself too hard if I tried to just go full on Dragon. I could barely get my wings out after all..."

He took a step forward and began winding up a swing, though instead of curling his hand into a fist he made a scratching motion instead.

"Alright, let's try a dragon claw-"

"Hey there, Vomit Boy!"

"AAAAAAGH!"

Jaune let out a shrill scream as he hopped towards the training dummy, which promptly caught him in its robotic arms. As he was clinging to the dummy, he could hear the laughter of who he could only assume was team RWBYs Yang. After all, only she used that nickname for him.

"Somebodies a little jumpy this morning!"

"Ha ha, very funny, Yang. What are you doing here? That door was locked!"

Yang cocked an eyebrow at Jaune before she glanced back to the door.

"Uh, it wasn't."

"Well it was supposed to be!"

"Oh? And what are YOU doing up this early in a PRIVATE training room of all things?"

"Uh... training?"

"Oh, suuuure you are. I can tell by how you're in your partners loving embrace that you really are honing those deadly combat skills of yours!"

Jaune glanced down to see that he was still firmly hugged against the training dummy. He let out a nervous laugh as he hopped out of its arms and turned back to Yang.

"So uh, what are you doing up this early anyway, Yang?"

"Ruby's been waking us all up this early since the first day of school. She's trying way too hard to be a good leader, I mean come on FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING?"

"Heh, guess she really wants you guys to take things seriously, huh?"

"And by the looks of it, you do too. Seriously, both of you are crazy if you expect your team to be up at five thirty every morning."

"What? Oh, no I would never expect that out of my team. That IS crazy! We all try to be up by seven thirty."

"S-seven... thirty? Jaune can I be on your team, please?"

"Well, Pyrrha actually wakes up at around six. Ren usually wakes up somewhere between six thirty and seven, I wake up at seven and Nora... well, we just let her sleep until thirty minutes till class starts."

"Yeah well, maybe you can talk some sense into Ruby today. I think she's driving even Weiss crazy with this schedule, and she's driving ALL of us crazy with that whistle. I tried hiding it, but she always ends up finding somehow."

"Heh, I guess I could try. But uh, is there a reason why you're here so early? Specifically in this room?"

"Well, I decided to get in some warm ups. Mostly because I didn't really want to deal with Ruby's early morning debriefing of our day. And then I saw you head into this room, and I thought to myself, why not practice my moves on a noodley training dummy instead of a metal one!"

Jaune rolled his eyes at the teasing grin that Yang was shining at him. He would never actually say it to her face, mostly because he was too nice to actually do so, but he was really getting tired of all the merciless teasing she always directed at him whenever he was around.

"So how about it? Wanna spar with me, Vomit Boy?"

Jaune nervously scratched the back of his head as he glanced down at the ground. "Uuh, gee Yang, I dunno. I kind of didn't plan on getting my face completely rearranged this morning."

"Aw come on, I promise I'll won't do any PERMANENT damage! Pyrrha would probably strangle me if I did anyway."

"Tch... Alright... I uh... I guess..." He had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He knew for a fact that he didn't stand even a fraction of a chance against Yang, even with the small amount of training he had under his belt from Pyrrha. Not only that, this was supposed to be his private time for figuring out how his semblance. But he had a hard time saying no to people.

Yang frowned a bit as she folded her arms. She could tell that something wasn't right about the way Jaune was acting.

"You okay, Jaune? We don't HAVE to spar if you really don't want to."

"Oh. Uh, it's nothing. We can spar, it's alright."

Yang tilted her head a bit as she watched Jaune walk over to the rooms control panel and dismiss the training dummy. After the dummy had folded itself back up and rolled its way back into the back room, both Jaune and Yang stepped into the center of the training ring.

Jaune once again got into his boxing stance, which earned him a laugh from Yang.

"What's so funny?"

"Going up against me without your weapons? That's preeeetty cocky, Vomit Boy." To emphasize his mistake, she cocked her gauntlets. Jaune's eyes widened a bit as he scrambled to pick his sword and shield up off the floor.

After his brief screw up, the two of them stared each other down for a moment before Yang finally decided to make the first move. She rushed up to Jaune and threw a right hook aimed for his face, which he scrambled to block with his shield. And while he was successful in blocking the attack, it did force him to stumble backwards a bit. Yang followed up by stepping forward a bit so she could throw a left hook this time, deciding to aim for his torso instead. Jaune took the blow right in his gut, which forced him to bend over and gag slightly. Out of instinct, Yang went brought her knee upwards in an attempt to strike his face, but was surprised when he dodged out the way and quickly swung his sword upwards at her.

She easily deflected the attack with her left gauntlet before deciding to bring down her right one on top of Jaune's head, as he had yet to actually straighten himself out after dodging her knee. He took the blow right to the back of his cranium, sending him to the floor. Yang took a step back and allowed him to hastily pick himself up off his feet before she went in for another attack, this time a straight jab with her left arm.

It was actually quite hard for her to pull her punches, as she was so used to going all out all the time. But she really didn't want to end up seriously hurting the poor guy and possibly end up on Pyrrha's bad side.

To Yang's shock though, Jaune was able to block the jab without stumbling at all. His follow up however, was quite sloppy. Jaune attempted to do a spinning slash with his sword, something he had seen in one of those video game things once. About halfway through the move however, he realized what a horrible idea it was to actually try and put video game logic into real life fighting, but he was just so amazed by those moves that he HAD to try them out at least once!

Yang simply moved her body backwards a bit to dodge the swing, and she would no doubt follow it up with an extremely punishing move. He thought to himself about how nice it would be to have his tail out right about now, because he could at least attempt to fend her off with that as he recovered. Being a human really did put him at such a disadvantage that-

His thoughts paused for a brief moment when he swore he felt something brush up against his non-existent tail, until he heard the sound of a body falling to the ground.

"What the hell was that...?!" He heard Yang grumbled from behind him.

Jaune turned back to Yang and saw that he had indeed whipped out his tail, and used it to sweep Yang off of her feet. Thankfully, it vanished as quickly as it appeared, and Yang seemed far too busy with her face on the ground to actually catch what had happened. As she got up, she shot him a bit of a glare, resulting in him nervously chuckling and shrugging in return. Although for a brief moment, he could have sworn he saw Yang's eyes turn red...

But before he could actually get a good look, Yang blasted herself off the ground with her gauntlets and socked him square in the jaw. Or at least, that was the last thing he remembered before he felt himself simultaneously blacking out and flying across the ring, it just all happened so fast.

"Oh crap, oh CRAP! Pyrrha is going to KILL me!"

Jaune let out a moan as he opened his eyes slowly, his vision being filled with yellow and brown. As he pulled himself together and motioned to lift himself up, his face briefly bumped against something soft before his whole face was buried in whatever the soft object was.

"Oh thank Oum! I thought I knocked you into a coma or something!"

Yang pulled Jaune out of a hug, revealing that his head had actually been in her lap while he was laying on the training ring floor.

"What uh... what even happened- OW!" Jaune winced in pain as he rubbed his jaw.

"Oooh CRAP. That is a HUGE bruise, dude."

"What?"

Yang responded by pulling out her scroll, using the reflective surface to show Jaune his face. The entire left side of his jaw was completely purple, and while it was slowly healing thanks to his aura, the pain was still throbbing immensely.

"W-WOAH! What happened to my face?!"

Yang let out a nervous laugh as the two of them got to their feet, though Jaune stumbled for a moment and had to prop himself up on Yang's shoulder.

"I sorta happened. Sorry."

"Jeez, Yang... I thought you weren't going to do any PERMANENT damage! I can barely stand!"

"Aw come on, it's not permanent! I just, y'know. Got a little too into our match, that's all."

"Yeah... I understand, I guess. Just try to be more careful next time, okay?"

"Gotcha. But hey! On the bright side, I think you did pretty good when it comes to your standards, Vomit Boy!"

Jaune rolled his eyes a bit. "Gee, thanks."

Looking at the clock, it was now nearly seven. How long had he been out exactly? He remembered starting their little match at around six twenty, and it certainly couldn't have lasted more then five minutes... Did she really hit him so hard that he blacked out for over twenty minutes? And on top of that, she ripped through his aura enough to leave that huge bruise... What kind of monster strength did Yang have?!

"Wow uh, look at the time. I should probably be getting back to the dorms so I can get ready for the day."

"Huh? Oh, crap! It's seven!"

Yang suddenly rushed forward and out the door, dropping Jaune on his face in the process. She briefly stopped in the doorway and turned to see him picking himself up off the ground well enough on his own.

"Thanks for the match, Vomit Boy! Call me up if you feel like getting your face pounded again!" She flashed a playful grin as she spoke, holding her hand up to her ear like a phone just for good measure before she took off down the hall.

Jaune just let out a sigh as he gathered up his weapons and slunk down the halls far behind her, not exactly thrilled to have to deal with explaining the large mark on his face to his team. Or at the fact that this entire training session was completely wasted. He came expecting to master his dragon powers just a tiny bit, and left with no new knowledge of anything and a bundle of bruises.

Still, there was always tomorrow, right?

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Wow, this story exploded with popularity the night I posted the first chapter, and it continues growing. Either I fluked with an award winning idea, or it was the fact that it was a JaunexYang story that attracted so much attention.  
Either way, I'm actually excited to see so many people eager to find out where this story progresses, and I promise that I'll try my best to make this story an entertaining read for you all.

Of course, what kind of Author would I be if I didn't reccomend you to my other stories that are also on this site. The biggest one so far being Wind in his Sails, but that does involve OC content, which I know many people are allergic to.

If you like Monster Hunter, why not check out RWBY: Deadly Monsters and how to hunt them! for a RWBYxMonster Hunter story!  
Or maybe check out Crude Beauty, a slowburn freezerburn fic taking place throughout the series.

Or just keep reading this one, all that matters to me is that you all enjoy the content I put out. Thanks again!


	3. Monster Manual

Jaune plopped down at the table, rubbing his jaw as he did. It was certainly still hurting, but at least now it was half the size it was yesterday.

As he guessed, as soon as he got back to his dorm, Pyrrha had nearly had a heart attack at the sight of it. She insisted that he stay in the dorm for the rest of the day, volunteering to take notes for him in class while he slept it off. It took a decent amount of arguing with her just to let him actually go to classes today.

"Jaune, you need to stop bothering it or else it won't heal properly!"

Jaune let out a small sigh as Pyrrha began doting over him again. It's not that he didn't appreciate how Pyrrha treated him, but it sometimes got to a point where she would be a bit overbearing.

"It's just a bruise, Pyrrha. It's not gonna rip open if I-"

"Wow, that bruise is HUGE!"

Team JNPRs attention was garnered when Ruby and the rest of her team sat down in front of them, Yang and Jaune exchanging a few nervous glances as they did.

"Where did you get it from?"

"Didn't Yang tell you?"

"...Tell us what?"

Yang's nervous glance turned into an even more nervous grin as all eyes turned to her.

"I uh... heh... uuuhh..."

It took Jaune a moment to figure out that Yang didn't exactly want everyone to know that she had knocked him clear across the training room yesterday morning, but what tipped him off were the skeptical looks that Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha were giving, and on top of that he was getting a pleading look from Yang herself.

Jaune quickly thought of the best excuse he could to explain the bruise.

"She uh, she saw me fall down the stairs on my way to the training hall!"

"Uuuh, yeah, yeah that! Vomit Boy took a nasty spill and slammed his jaw right into the bottom step! Poor guy knocked himself out in the process."

Everyone seemed to believe the fib, turning back to their food and regular conversation, until Nora spoke up.

"Heeeey wait a second... There aren't any stairs near the training ha-OOF!"

Jaune glanced over to see that Ren had shoved a pancake into Nora's mouth as he kept his face mostly emotionless. The two of them exchanged a short glance that seemingly conveyed the situation to each other perfectly before everyone returned to eating their food.

It was strange how Ren and Jaune shared a bond that allowed them to understand each other with even the most subtle of actions, but it was certainly a major blessing. Although Weiss and Blake returned to giving Yang very skeptical stares for quite some time after Nora's revelation before they decided to drop the subject.

After the excitement died down, Jaune found the lunch break to be fairly standard. Like always everyone was talking about various topics about their day or some of the latest news. But one particular conversation between Blake and Ruby caught his attention.

"So, Ruby. How are you enjoying that book?"

"Oh it's awesome! I've learned so much about Dragons since I started reading it!"

"Heh, maybe one day you'll find one."

Ruby puffed up her cheeks and folded her arms in response.

"Laugh all you want, Blake. I know there are dragons out there somewhere! I mean come on, there are dragon Grimm, right? Why can't there just be... not-Grimm dragons?"

A book about dragons? That certainly sounded familiar. Jaune leaned over the table and decided to butt in on the conversation. "Uh, hey guys, couldn't help but notice you were talking about a dragon book?"

"Yep! Blake found it on the ground just after the closing ceremonies for initiation!"

"I wasn't really into that kind of thing, so I decided to give it to Ruby since she practically begged me for it."

"I can't believe someone would just throw such an amazing book away like that though!"

Team JNPR exchanged a few glances before Jaune spoke up.

"So uh, about that book. Is it a brown, old and musty looking book that has an extremely, almost life like detailing of how dragon biology works?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"THAT'S THE BOOK YOU SAID YOU LOST, JAUNE! THEY MUST HAVE STOLEN IT!"

Everyone turned to Nora, who had gotten out of her seat and pointed dramatically at both Ruby and Blake, both of whom just blinked in confusion.

"W-what?! I'm not a thief! I'm innocent I tell you, INNOCENT! Uuh... UM... BLAME BLAKE, SHE FOUND IT!"

Blake glanced over at her leader and narrowed her eyes a bit. "Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Ruby."

"Hehehe... sorry...?"

Jaune let out a short chuckle and shook his head. He wasn't even upset, more like relieved that someone he knew had found it.

"Calm down guys, I'm not mad. But that book is REALLY important to me, Ruby. Do you think maybe you could give it back to me sometime?"

"Oh... sure... but... can I please finish it first? I'm almost halfway through!"

Jaune looked at the pleading eyes that Ruby was shining in his direction, failing to notice everyone around him instinctively turning away from her gaze.

"Uh... I guess you can..."

"Yay! Thanks, Jaune!"

"But I'm eventually going to need it for something REALLY important, and I won't hesitate to come get it when I do!"

Blake glanced back at Jaune for a moment and cocked an eyebrow. "Why would a fairy tale book be THAT important?"

Jaune gulped nervously, he almost began backing himself into a corner before Yang interjected.

"It's probably really important to him, Blake. Don't you have books that are super important to you?"

Yang flashed a very... knowing grin at Blake, who rolled her eyes and turned away.

"...Yeah, that's true. Didn't think about that..."

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't going to get his whole secret blown over something stupid like being interested in a book though, so he wasn't sure why he was so worried.

Once lunch was over, the rest of his team went off to their respective classes. He was the only one who had a free period directly after lunch, something that Nora was insanely jealous of.

Finding nothing better to do, Jaune decided to head to the library and perhaps do a bit of research online on dragons. Of course, that probably wasn't the best idea since he would know more about himself than anything the internet could provide. After all, the internet was mostly just filled with speculations or straight up false information, since Dragons technically didn't exist on Remnant.

However, before Jaune could actually get to a computer he was flagged down by Ruby, who was sitting at a nearby table.

"Hey Jaune! What are you doing out of class?"

"I'm the only person on my team who has a free period during this time. Everyone else gets theirs right after mine."

"Oooh. How come you never told me? Our teams free period is the same time as yours!"

"Huh. I usually just stay in the dorm and read comi- I mean study during my free period."

Ruby let out a giggle before dragging the chair next to her closer.

"Sooo, wanna sit down and read your book with me? I'm getting to the part that describes the different types of dragons and their powers!"

Jaune scratched the tip of his chin and thought. It certainly would be a good idea to see what information the book had on Golden dragons. If he could figure out whatever power he had, that would help further his training along. Probably.

So he plopped down next to Ruby, who eagerly began reading off various different passages for each of the chromatic dragon species.

"Woah. Red dragons can control the fire they breath! They can even make it so that it won't burn people they like! And they can set themselves on fire too!"

"All dragons that can breath fire can light themselves ablaze. It's really good for offensive close quarters combat."

Ruby looked at Jaune quizzically, which made him a bit nervous.

"Uuh. I mean, that's what I've heard, anyways."

"Ooooh. Green Dragons breath poisonous gas... And they have the power to make nature grow around them!"

"Yeah, Green Dragons are really in tune with nature. Areas with Green Dragons in them tend to have a lot of plant and animal life."

As Jaune read through the page, he could feel Ruby's eyes on him once again. At this point, he realized that he might be detailing things a little too much, it was mostly just out of instinct, since he used to have quizzes on the subject all the time in his normal school. And he was just now realizing that such knowledge might be raising a bit of suspicion.

"Wow, you know a lot about Dragons, Jaune!"

"Err... Yeah, they're a uh, big hobby of mine."

"Really? That's cool! We should do stuff like this more often! I thought I was the only one around here who was into such cool creatures."

"What uh, what got you into Dragons, Ruby?"

"All the stories that Yang used to read to me! A lot of them had Dragons in them. Sometimes the dragons were the villains, but I liked it more when the dragons were good or just not evil. What about you though?"

Jaune gulped nervously and tugged on his collar a bit.

"Uh well, I uh... I dunno I just always found them interesting. And then one day I just really got into them. Y'know?"

"Yeah. One day I hope I'll get to meet a dragon in real life though!"

"Heh, Ruby, you know those are just mythical creatures right? They don't uh... exist..."

Jaune felt a tinge of guilt flow through him for saying such a thing, but he shook it off.

"Aw come on, you sound just like everyone else! There HAS to be a real dragon out there, how could the grimm make dragons if there weren't any to base them off of, huh?!"

"Well, that's not exactly a solid theory... But maybe you're right."

As Ruby turned a few more pages, Jaune saw something that caught his attention.

"Wait, Ruby! Go back to that last page!"

"Huh?"

As Ruby flipped a page backwards, both her and Jaune stared at the title of the entry. Metallic Dragons.

"Wooaah... I didn't know there were dragons based off of metals!"

"Yeah, they're generally regarded as the strongest dragons."

"COOOOL! Wait... hold on, what's wrong with this entry? It's all... faded."

True to her words, more than half of both pages were faded and practically unreadable. Only a few lines here and there were left in tact, but something seemed off about the way the words had faded. It seemed more like they had been erased... But it was an old book, so it's possible that either could have happened at some point.

"It's a really old book, so it's not surprising that some of it was damaged."

"Aw, that stinks."

"Is there anything left on Golden Dragons?"

Ruby's eyes scanned the page as she looked for anything on Golden Dragons, when her eyes came to rest on the section devoted to them, she was disappointed to see that nothing remained of the words except small lines here and there.

"Nope. Nothing."

Jaune let out a heavy sigh, the book probably wasn't going to be nearly as useful to him as he thought now. Sure, it could help with all the basic workings of his body, but he knew most of that already. He really needed to know the more combative properties of his body, which was far more specific when it came to metallic dragons than chromatic ones.

While Chromatic dragons tend to be more well rounded, there are certain parts of metallic dragons that are far stronger than others. Not only that, metallic dragons have different metabolisms and scale types, along with completely separate and more intricate powers than the chromatic dragons.

A bell rang out from the halls, signaling that the period had just ended. Jaune let out another sigh as he stood up, he at least wanted to see if he could find any information on the internet before he left.

"Aw, class time already? Laaame."

"Heh, yeah. Guess I'll see you later, Ruby. Enjoy that book some more, alright?"

Ruby gave him a large grin as she hugged the book to her chest.

"No problemo, fellow Dragon lover!"

Both of them gave each other a small laugh before they parted ways.

Classes went along normally, but all throughout the rest of the day the one thing on Jaune's mind was how he would go about discovering how to utilize his dragon form in combat. Tomorrow he would try going to the training halls again and attempt to actually put in some work on mastering his shifting a bit more though. Once he did that, he imagined that he would have a much easier time experimenting.

Since he generally didn't do things in his free period, and the fact that leaving so early in the morning regularly would surely raise suspicion from his team, Jaune decided that starting tomorrow he would use his free period as a training period for his Draconic powers.

Hopefully nobody would interrupt him again, but that shouldn't be a problem.

As long as he remembers to lock the door this time.


	4. Skeleton Key

"Seriously guys? You're flaking on me?"

Yang glared at all of her teammates, the ones who were SUPPOSED to head down to the training halls with her and have a few sparring matches. But yet all of them conveniently decided that they would rather not go at the last minute.

Blake was the first person that Yang asked, since they WERE partners after all, it would make sense if they sparred regularly together.

"Sorry, Yang. I've still got bruises from last time I sparred with you."

Yang let out a sigh. Well there went her first idea. So she turned to her other two friends.

"Weiss? Ruby?"

Weiss simply shot Yang a glance before holding up a notebook filled with notes before she set it down and returned to writing. It was the perfect excuse, and Weiss was hoping that Ruby had one prepared too.

"Uuh. Ummm... No thanks, sis."

"Aw come on, Rubes. I promise I won't do any damage that pretty face of yours!"

"Nope!"

"But-"

"I said nope, Yang. My pretty face is going undamaged today for sure! I won't end up like Jaune!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Weiss and Blake said that Jaune covered for you with that stair lie."

Yang briefly shot the two minor glares, though neither one of them would look at her while she did.

"That's not... true... Uuugh. Fine. Y'know what, forget you guys. I'll just head down to the training hall and see if anyone there wants to spar. Or maybe I'll just do something else that's really fun. Without any of you."

"Aw, come on Yang, we could-"

Yang stomped out the door and slammed it behind her before her sister could even finish her sentence.

"...Oh..."

Weiss briefly glanced up at her friend to see the hurt look on her face. Sighing, she decided to console her. "It's fine, Ruby. She just needs time to work out her anger by herself."

"I guess, but she's never gotten so worked up about training before..."

"Perhaps she's going through a rough patch in her training that is frustrating her. Either way, she doesn't need to be taking out her aggression on anything other than the training robots in the designated training areas."

Ruby let out a small sigh and nodded in return before she went back to fiddling with Crescent Rose.

As Yang continued down the hall, flames could be seen just barely radiating off of her. She was absolutely furious. Everybody seemed to be afraid to spar with her lately. She could get why Jaune was nervous about it, she did nearly punch his jaw off. But her own team? Including her little sister? They should know that she would never even accidentally get carried away on any of them!

...Okay MAYBE she would get a little carried away if they messed with her hair. Or a lot carried away, but they knew better than that! Besides, she wasn't THAT rough when she sparred with others... was she?

In her anger, Yang failed to notice that she was about to walk into someone, resulting in the two crashing into each other. As they both bounced backwards, Yang looked up from her thoughts to see that she had run into Pyrrha.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha. Sorry about that."

"It's fine, don't worry about it, Yang..."

As the two of them dusted each other off, Pyrrha noticed the red flashing in Yang's eyes, which was never a good sign.

"You look a bit tense. Is something the matter?"

"Yeah, something's the matter all right. Everyone flaked on me for our training session today!"

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. I would love to help, but I have a problem of my own."

"Oh yeah? What's the problem?"

"Well, I'm looking for Jaune."

Yang smirked a bit in response. "Don't you always keep one eye on him at all times or something?"

Pyrrha let out a nervous chuckle as her eyes shifted as if to look anywhere but at Yang.

"Well um... yes, but... I can't seem to find him anywhere today. He usually sees all of us off when we go to class, but today he seemingly vanished."

"Does Jaune not have class with you guys next period?"

"No, he has a free period, while our free period is after his."

"Huh. Well I wouldn't worry about him, he's probably off somewhere thinking of some way to flirt with Ice Queen or something."

Yang noticed that Pyrrha seemed to be a bit upset at the mention of Weiss, so she decided to offer some help to lighten her spirits a bit.

"Tell you what though, I'll keep my eyes peeled for Vomit Boy and let you know if I find him, alright?"

Pyrrha seemed to be calmed down by the offer, as she let out a sigh. Yang found it funny how easily the redhead had fallen for the blonde noodle that was Jaune. She also found it a bit baffling, too.

"Thank you! And I'll be sure to keep my schedule open for a sparring session some time, okay?"

Yang flashed a playful grin as she lightly tapped Pyrrha's shoulder with her left fist. "Aah, thanks, P-money! You're always looking out for everyone!"

Pyrrha let out a brief laugh before giving a wave. Once the two of them separated, Yang had quickly forgotten the fact that Jaune was missing as she went back to thinking of her first destination, the training halls.

Meanwhile, Jaune stood in the center of the private training room and stared at the training dummy in front of him. He felt a little bad about sneaking off to train without so much as even saying goodbye to his friends, but he was all too eager to get to work.

Today was the day, after all. The day where he would finally master his semblance.

Well, that's what he was aiming for anyway.

He was more determined than ever to master it, as it was the first major stepping stone on his path to be a huntsman. Well, he still wasn't entirely sure how he could be able to incorporate it into his daily life, since that would increase his risk of being caught if he wasn't careful. But he was still going to master it! He wanted to turn back into his old self again every once and awhile! To feel the breeze as he flew through the sky like he... wanted to. He never really got to fly much after he learned.

But now wasn't the time for dwelling on his past, now was the time for action!

He took a step towards the training dummy and held his right hand up. He gave it a short, stern glare before he swung it forward...

And promptly slammed it into the metal dummy's head at full force. Jaune gripped his hand as it began throbbing in pain, that was not the outcome he was hoping for.

He glanced behind him when he felt something strange around his... posterior region, only to notice that he had sprouted a rather large golden tail just above it.

"No NO! Not tail, claws! I wanted claws!" As he shouted this, he spun around and swung his tail at the training dummy, only for it to vanish in a short flash of fire.

"What?"

Jaune glanced down at his hands in confusion, only to see that NOW he had turned them into claws. He slapped a hand to his face, only to end up poking one of his eyes with one of his sharp claws, forcing him to hold his face in pain.

"Okay, calm down, Jaune. You can do this. Sure, you basically have to relearn everything about yourself and then some, but you're still a Dragon. Maybe some fire breath to warm up, instead?"

He paused momentarily at the stupid pun that he made before he shook his head and turned back towards the dummy. He took a deep breath, and calmly exhaled, gathering his composure as he did. After a brief moment, he inhaled again, this time pushing his lungs to their limits. He let his instincts take over, feeling a mighty surge of heat blaze through his throat as he leaned forward and opened his mouth.

A column of fire shot out and engulfed the training dummy, nearly knocking it over in the process. He watched as the dummy slowly burned before its automated fire extinguish system activated and put out all the fires.

"Hey... I did it! That was pretty goOOD!" Jaune burped up a pillar of smoke as he finished his sentence, forcing him to hold his mouth shut after he expelled the first cloud. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"Uugh... Okay, note to self, don't breathe fire as a human..."

He gave his chest a few firm pats with his fist before he decided to sit on the bench nearby.

"Man, this would be so much easier if I could just turn into a Dragon completely... Hmm..."

His semblance was certainly strange with how it was working. He wasn't entirely sure if it was instinctual, or on command yet. Sometimes it seemed like he would just randomly sprout dragon parts when he was trying for specifics, and other times it seemed as though he could seamlessly whip out claws or wings whenever he needed them. But at the same time, he never found himself accidentally shifting into a dragon form when he was just casually going about his day. Maybe there was an easier way to do all this?

He stood up and walked back towards the training dummy, planting himself firmly in front of it as he shut his eyes.

"Okay, maybe if I just... think back to what I used to look like... and maybe I'll turn back?"

He cleared his mind and plunged deep into his memories, unearthing the morning before he was sent off to Beacon Academy.

Before the elders performed the ritual that would seal him in human form until he unlocked his semblance. He remembered standing in front of the mirror, admiring himself. He may not have been good with Human ladies, but among the Dragons he was by no means as... noodley looking. Like most of the modern day Dragons, Jaune preferred a more humanoid appearance. Standing on two legs, his waist was just a bit thinner than his chest, which was much wider and toned. He was still by no means ripped like some of the other dragons he had seen, but he was certainly well toned. Despite the fact that his parents sheltered him from practically everything, they still at least allowed him to work out and keep in shape.

When it came to his face, it was standard dragon stuff. His snout wasn't as pointed as most other dragons were, but he did have his families signature scaly whiskers. They were generally in standard places around the nostrils when it came to his sisters, mother and father, but for him they hung under the tip of his chin almost like a beard. He only had two, but his dad told him as he aged he would get more.

And his blonde hair sat atop his head, though his hairs were much thicker than they were while human. The more he pictured himself, the more remembered how good it was to not be crammed into a smaller, human form. And then he realized the warmth that was enveloping him, causing him to open his eyes and glance down at his body.

A ring of fire had appeared down near his feet, and it began to flicker brighter and brighter the more he thought of his old body. With one more final mental push, the ring of fire surged up from his feet all the way to his head, shifting his body into his original Draconic form.

For a brief moment, it felt as if his entire body was stretching and contorting at the same time, until finally he felt as if he had just been released from a cramped prison. The transformation was slightly nauseating at first, but with time he would most likely grow used to it.

Jaune held his now scaly hands up to his face, marveling at the fact that the scales simply didn't end at his wrists but continued moving down his arms. Glancing down at his legs, he saw that they were indeed draconic as well. He looked down at the training dummy in front of him, which was now looking a little bit shorter then it previously was before, and glanced into the shiny, reflective metal plating it had on its head. Instead of the dorky, normal human face he was expecting to see, he instead saw an imposing and rather handsome if he had to say so himself, looking dragon.

He could barely contain his excitement, he actually did it! He turned back into a dragon! Although it was a bit strange that his clothes seemingly just vanished. Maybe the fire burned them away? But he was far too excited to actually care, he was so excited in fact that he began jumping around the training room in joy.

Yang walked down the hallway, peaking into each training room as she did. It seemed like nobody was around today, and it was really starting to bum her out.

"WOOHOO! I DID IT, YEAH!"

She paused for a brief moment when she heard the sound of someone shouting from one of the private rooms down the hall.

"That sounded like Vomit Boy. What's he doing back in the private training room...?"

As Yang quickly snuck up to the door, she found that unsurprisingly, it was unlocked again.

"Classic Jaune..."

Placing her ear up to the door, she could definitely hear what sounded like Jaune cheering. Of course, instead of knocking she just decided to do what she was best at and burst right in.

Yang flung open the door and stepped inside, announcing her presence loudly.

"Hey Vomit Boy, how's it hanging toda...aay?"

Yang paused for a moment as her eyes took in the sight before her. A giant, golden reptilian creature hopping into the air, cheering, before it landed back on the ground with a heavy thud. The reptile froze up at the sound of her voice and slowly turned to see her. If she hadn't been completely immobile due to shock, she could have swore she saw sweat dripping nervously down the reptiles face as it spoke to her.

"Uuh. Hey, Yang. That uh... that door was supposed to be locked..."


	5. Perception Check

Jaune Arc's life as he knew it was over. At this point, even if he were to somehow stop Yang from freaking out and running off to tell everyone what she was seeing, there was no way he would ever be able to convince her to keep it a secret.

But he could always try, right?

In a quick flash, Jaune practically soared over Yang and landed in front of the door, spreading his wings out so that she wouldn't be able to get passed him. He also stealthily used his tail to wrap around the door handle and shut the door.

Of course, if he had actually thought his plan through a little bit more he might have realized that a giant dragon blocking someones only exit out of a room didn't exactly do much for your image.

As he wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead, he felt a spike of pain surge through his gut. Looking down, he saw that Yang had already decided to go on the offensive and had punched him. Granted, it hurt far less than it did when he was a human, but it still hurt. He figured it would probably be best to not try and get into a fight with his friend that could end up with either one being seriously injured. And it would most likely be him, based on how their previous sparring session had gone.

And Yang most likely wouldn't be sparring, so much as killing.

A second fist came flying a bit higher this time, which he managed to catch with his hand. He made sure to hold on as tight as he could, which would eventually force her to use her other hand in an attempt to free her occupied one. And one she did, the attempt was foiled when Jaune managed to grab that hand as well, locking her down well enough.

As Yang struggled to pull her hands from his grip, he saw this as a good opportunity to try and calm her down... until she managed to wrestle one of her hands free from and punch him in the gut again.

He knelt down in pain a bit, releasing her other hand as he did, which gave her the perfect opportunity to hit him with a firm uppercut. He barely kept his footing as he was knocked against the very door he was blocking. Jaune managed to recover quickly enough to block another fist that came flying at his face, and while he didn't really want to hurt his friend, he figured in this situation he had little choice in the matter.

Jaune quickly grabbed one of Yang's fists as it came flying at him yet again, and then he pushed it back at her, knocking her back a few steps. To follow up with the shove, Jaune quickly spun around and whipped his tail at Yang, smacking her directly in her gut with a loud snap sound. The force of the blow sent her rolling to the floor, but Jaune made sure to rush over to her and hold her arms down. Once she was disabled, he made another attempt to calm the situation down before he had to do any more fighting.

"Okay Yang, calm down! It's me, Jaune! Just, keep calm and don't freak out anymore, okay? I really don't feel like being knocked on my butt again! Or worse!"

Yang stopped her struggle to push him off of her and stared up at him, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"J-J-Jaune?"

"There's uh, also an Arc at the end of that, in case you don't believe me."

He could see that she was still unsure of whether or not to believe him, as she occasionally attempted to pull her hands free from his grasp, and on top of that she was shaking like a leaf. Seeing someone as powerful as Yang shivering with fear was a sight that he never wanted to see, and with every passing second it just made him feel worse. Even moreso because of the fact that HE was the one holding her down.

He tried thinking of something, anything that could help prove to her that it was really him, when something donned on him.

"Y'know... Vomit Boy?"

He could see her eyes widen even more when he said her nickname for him. Her body also stopped shaking as much, which was always a great sign.

Yang had decided, against all of her better judgements, to take moment to just breath and let all this information fill her head. This reptile, strangely enough, looked like Jaune with that scraggly patch of blonde hair on its scaly head. It also sounded like him, too. And on top of all that, it knew the nickname that she gave him. So it was really starting to get a lot harder to say that it WASN'T Jaune.

"W-what the hell happened to you...?"

He let go of her hands once he finally saw that she had calmed down enough to not try and murder him. Once she got to her feet and began staring at him again, he reached behind his head and began nervously scratching at the back of his neck.

"Eheh, well I guess you could say this is uh... what I... really look like?"

"What?"

"Heh, yeah uh... Hoo boy this is.. probably the most awkward moment of my life..."

Yang's eyes narrowed a bit. There was no doubt about it, this was definitely Jaune. Only someone as dense as him could take the situation like he had thrown up on the ship during the flight to Beacon.

"I'm uh, I'm sorta not human?"

"Not... human...? Then what the HELL are you?!"

"I'm sort of a uh... Dragon?"

"Dragon? Like, the fairy tale kind of dragon?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Except, y'know. Not a fairy tale."

Yang placed a hand on the side of her head and cradled it. "I... I guess I can't argue with that. You're sorta standing right in front of me, and you've got scales, wings and a tail... But, if you're a dragon then how did you... y'know, go all human-looking on us?"

"Well uh, that's actually the easiest thing to explain. It's our semblance. Uh, dragons I mean. We all have the same semblance, it's weird."

"Yeah, not exactly the weirdest thing about this though."

Jaune let out a small sigh as he suggested the two of them sit on a bench to make things a bit less tense. As the two of them approached the bench, Yang was startled for a brief moment when Jaune briefly caught fire before said fire dissipated, revealing the normal, noodley looking boy that she knew well enough.

Well, at this point she guessed that she didn't have much of a right to say that she knew much about him anymore.

The two of them sat silently on the bench for quiet some time until Jaune finally worked up the courage to ask a question.

"Soo... uh... where do you want me to start?"

"Huh?"

"Y'know, where do you want me to start about... me?"

"Oh. Well uh, that's a million lien question if I ever heard one. I guess wherever you're comfortable?"

"Okay... uh, let's see... I grew up on the island of Vytal, in a small village that was cut off from most of civilization."

"Hold up. How exactly did your village survive then? I mean, Vytal has been mostly deserted since that whole peace treaty thing after that war happened almost a hundred years ago, right? It's not like Grimm just let people casually set up a town anywhere they want."

Jaune just raised an eyebrow as he stared back at Yang. When it seemed like she wasn't making the connection, he briefly turned his hand into a claw.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question. Go on."

"Well, it wasn't STUPID. I mean, our village is attacked by Grimm every day. We just have a lot of ways to protect from them. You think Grimm want humanity dead bad enough? You haven't seen the all out attacks they've tried on us Dragons... They were pretty brutal. We have entire sections of the village filled with dedicated warriors and all sorts of runes to defend against grimm."

"Runes? As in like, magic mumbo jumbo?"

"Heh, if you want to call it that. It's not really magic though, it's more like... Okay, it's complicated. Too complicated to explain right now."

Yang scratched the side of her head. Already it was starting to ache from all this information. "Oookay? I mean, why don't they just use like, automated turrets or robots?"

"The most advanced tech we have around our village is probably our scrolls. And even then, they aren't much use without a working tower nearby to use the Cross Continental System."

"Wow. That sounds like some kind of screwed up place that I would never want to visit."

Jaune let out a small laugh as he folded his arms and glanced down at his feet.

"It wasn't so bad. I mean, my form of entertainment was sneaking out to watch the clan warriors train with each other and fight Grimm. And the more I saw my clansmen fight the Grimm, the more amazing the life of a warrior seemed. To be strong enough to stand up for those who can't, and to be able to stand up for yourself too."

"So is that why you became a huntsman?"

"Not really. I think the real reason I wanted to be a warrior like them was to get away from my village. Becoming a huntsman wasn't my idea."

"Did you not like your village?"

"No, that wasn't it at all. I loved my village, it's just that... I couldn't really DO anything, given our location."

"That sounds rough, I mean I know a lot of Faunus live in the wilderness in camps too, but even then they still have technology."

"Well, even besides that, there really wasn't a whole lot I was allowed to do, my parents were kind of... weird. It wasn't until only last few months that I found out the real reason why... and once I found out that reason, I can't say I blame my parents for being so weird."

"Why's that?"

Jaune glanced down at his feet again, he knew he was already breaking so many rules when it came to his clan, but at this point he felt as though it really didn't matter anymore. Might as well break a few more, right?

"So uh, I'm going to tell you a bit about Dragon culture."

"Ugh. Boring history lessons already? I've got Oobleck's class later today, I don't need an early start."

"Heh, it'll be short, I promise. So, Dragons have a law when it comes to families. The law states that the firstborn son of any family is required to leave the village when he proves himself to be ready for the life of a warrior. Once that happens, the Dragon is sealed within a human form and sent off into the world to bring glory to his family name."

"Woah. Why do they stick you in a human body?"

"Well one, it's because humans aren't supposed to know about Dragons. And two, I think it's because it's a form of test where the dragon has to unlock his semblance so he can shift between his forms at will. I only just unlocked mine last week."

"So earlier you said becoming a huntsman wasn't your idea? Who's was it then?"

"One of the village elders suggested the idea to me, he was almost like a brother to me, and he wanted to help me out by giving me some advice."

Yang sat in silence for a moment, her arms crossed and eyes closed as she thought.

"So let me see if I'm following you..."

"Okay?"

"You're really a Dragon in a human disguise, and you've lived your entire life in a small little village on Vytal, disconnected from the rest of the world. And a few months ago you were thrown into the world to become a huntsman without knowing like ANYTHING on human society?"

"Uh, I guess that's a good abridged version, yeah."

"Man, no wonder you SUCK at just about EVERYTHING!"

Jaune's eyes narrowed a bit as he glanced up at her. "Gee, thanks Yang."

"Aah, I'm just kidding! ...Okay not really. But it's a good explanation as to why you're so awkward. And why you suck at fighting."

Jaune glanced back to the floor, feeling a bit depressed. Here we was, telling Yang that he was a Dragon of all things and she still says he sucks.

"But, I can at least say that you being a Dragon makes you at least sixty percent cooler in my book."

He perked up a bit at that, his head lifting up as he turned to Yang, his eyes sparkling with a bit of hope.

"Really?!"

"Uh, yeah! You're a freakin' magical flying lizard that breathes fire and can turn into a human. How is that NOT cool?"

As if to emphasize her point, Jaune hopped off the bench and immediately shifted into his dragon form, flexing a bit as he did.

"I guess you're right, I am pretty awesome aren't I?"

Yang let out a laugh as she watched Jaune try different poses. "Alright alright, don't let it go to your head Vomit Boy."

"Even after you find out I'm a dragon, you're still going to call me that?"

"Hey, it fits. You vomit fire as a dragon, don'tcha?"

He let out a groan as Yang laughed, she wasn't wrong. And that was what annoyed him the most. He folded his arms and let out another groan, his wings flapping a bit as he did.

Click.

Jaune blinked. Did he just hear the sound of a picture being taken? He glanced over at Yang who had pulled out her scroll, taking a photo of him as he did. Before she could do anything else, He quickly snatched the scroll out of her hands.

"Wha- HEY!"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Texting Ruby that the first friend she made at Beacon is a freakin' DRAGON. Duh?"

Yang attempted to snatch the scroll back from him, but he quickly wrapped his tail around it and held it behind his back.

"You can't do that!"

"Aw come on, why not?"

"YOU weren't even supposed to know that I'm a dragon! Nobody is!"

"But... Ruby LOVES dragons, you know that! They're like her favorite mythical... okay well, they're like her favorite fairy... She loves dragons, okay? Her favorite story is the one where the knight falls in love with the poor farm girl who actually turns out to be a... dragon... in disguise... is that story real?"

Jaune brought his tail back up to his hand and took Yang's scroll out of it, his claw gently brushing up against the touch screen to scroll through the photos stored within.

"Sort of. It's a popular story amongst dragons because of the ending. I'm assuming you know the story ends with the humans killing the dragon because of a misunderstanding, right?"

"Y-yeah... Also uh, what exactly are you doing with my scroll?"

"Deleting that photo."

"I could do that myself y'know."

"Sorry, but I don't want to take any chances."

"What, you don't trust me?"

He paused for a brief moment and cocked a scaly eyebrow at her. She just rolled her eyes in return. It's not like she couldn't just blab to everyone later about it. Deleting the photo just deleted hard evidence that she could easily get more of later if she played her cards right.

"So why is that story so popular if the dragon gets killed in the end?"

"Because the Elders use it as a way to scare us Younglings. So we never reveal our true selves, and so we never fall in love with a human. Because we know that humans fear what they don't understand, and dragons are something that they can never truly understand."

"...Oh..."

"It's a dumb excuse, right?"

"...Huh?"

"I mean, sure YOU attacked me, but that's just because I scared you. I know you, or anyone else here at Beacon for that matter, wouldn't hurt me intentionally."

"But isn't that what happens? It was all just an accident that lead up to the dragons death?"

"Yeah, but that wouldn't happen if we just came right out and told humanity about us, right?"

Yang fidgeted in her seat a bit. She really didn't feel like providing an answer, given the fact that Jaune was most likely wrong. After all, the years of controversy and discrimination directed towards the Faunus population of the world are a good example as to why the dragons have wanted to stay hidden for all these years.

"Uh, yeah sure, but how about we get back to the whole 'you're a freakin' DRAGON' thing, huh?"

Jaune finally ended up finding the photo that Yang had taken, and quickly deleted the picture. However, as he went to close the scroll and hand it back to her, another image popped onto the screen after he deleted the first. Glancing at the picture, it was one of Yang holding her phone up high, the rest of team RWBY gathered around her, smiling. Well, Weiss was attempting to smile, but it was clear that she really didn't want to be in the photo. Thoughts of his own team entered his mind briefly before he shut the scroll and handed it back to its owner.

"No pictures."

"Yeah yeah, fine. I got it."

"...Yang... you can't tell anyone I'm a dragon, okay?"

"Tch. Why not?"

"Because... I think... I'll tell our friends... but only when the time is right. Honestly, I shouldn't do it at all... but... y'know what they say about rules?"

Yang grinned at the question. "They're made to be broken! Now you're speaking my language!"

The two of them smiled at each other briefly before Yang took a moment to scratch her chin and ponder a very interesting question.

"So uh, what do we do now?"

"...Huh?"

"I mean, I know you're a dragon. And I'm sure as hell not gonna miss out on all your cool dragon power training."

"H-huh?!"

"Well, it's super obvious why you were coming to these private rooms now."

"Uh... I mean... I sorta wanted this to be private, y'know?"

"Sure sure, I get it. But that ain't happening."

Jaune rubbed his temples a bit and shut his eyes tightly. He was hoping this would be easier than it was turning out to be. He didn't really have much of a choice though, it was either agree or risk Yang telling everyone out of spite.

"I guess I don't have much a choice... You can tag along when I train, I guess."

"Awesome! I've always wanted to see what cool things dragons could do! ...Okay well, Ruby has. I only just got into it recently. Like, today recently."

Jaune rolled his eyes as he began walking out of the room, resulting in Yang briefly running to catch up with him.

"So uh, I guess you're done for the day then?"

"Yang, I think we've both had enough excitement for one training session."

"Ah, that sucks. Guess we'll just have to meet up here again same time tomorrow."

Jaune let out a sigh as his hand reached for the door knob.

"So, how am I gunna explain that a dragon is walking alongside me on campus?"

"Wha...?"

Jaune looked down to see that he had yet to switch back into his human form. Groaning a bit, he quickly shifted back.

"I think me telling everybody should be the least of your worries, Vomit Boy."

"Funny. The only reason that almost happened is because of you."

"Suuuure. Blame me. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Jaune."

Jaune let out a heavy sigh. So now he's met two people in a row who were mostly unphased by the fact that he's a mythical fire breathing reptile. Beacon Academy sure had some weird people, and considering his status as a dragon, that was saying a hell of a lot.

Not only that, he was placing all of his trust on Yang to not say a word about him at all. He had nothing against Yang personally, he enjoyed her company on the rare occasion that she wasn't just teasing him endlessly. But he knew very little about her in comparison to her sister Ruby, or even Weiss for that matter. So he was extremely worried...

Could he really trust her with his secret that could determine the outcome of the rest of his life?


	6. Shifting Scales

Jaune woke up much earlier then usual. Once again, he found himself waking up before any of his other teammates. This time it wasn't to sneak out for training though, it was more the fact that he could barely sleep at all.

He just couldn't shake the feeling that Yang had told her team about what Jaune really was, even though she promised that she would keep it a secret. He couldn't help but thinking it, it was just such a sensitive topic that she was so eager to share with everyone that she could possibly just blurt it out at any moment.

But he had to at least have SOME faith in Yang, it wasn't like him to not give people the benefit of the doubt. So for now, he decided he would at least try to go back to sleep, and hopefully he would get at least another hour in.

"Jaune? It's almost seven thirty, you need to get up."

Jaune opened his eyes to see that indeed, the clock showed that it was seven thirty. As he pulled himself out of bed, he scratched the side of his head and let out a small groan. Glancing over to his side, he saw that Pyrrha standing beside his bed with a smile on her face.

"Oh, thanks, Pyrrha. How come my alarm didn't go off?"

Pyrrha fidgeted in place for a brief moment in response to the question. "Well, I may have turned it off for you. Sorry."

"Why?"

"I heard you tossing and turning throughout the night, so I assumed you weren't getting much sleep. So we decided to let you sleep in a little longer today."

"Oh. Thanks, Pyrrha. But uh, I hope I didn't keep you guys awake..."

"Oh no, no! We all slept fine!"

"Are you sure? I don't really want to-"

"Jaune, we slept FINE... You've been acting very high strung these past few days, is everything alright?"

Thoughts of Yang possibly telling all of her friends about him flooded his mind once again.

"Uuh... Y-yep! Everything's totally fine."

Pyrrha continued staring at him for a few seconds before her eyes drooped a bit. She knew he was lying to her, but she couldn't figure out why. As she watched him get up and enter the bathroom, she couldn't help but mull over everything her team did within the last week to see if she couldn't pinpoint when Jaune had started acting so strange...

Which is when she realized that this all started happening after his "accident" on the way to the training halls. Had both Jaune and Yang lied about what happened that day? Pyrrha scratched her chin and narrowed her eyes, staring at the floor as she continued to ponder the subject.

If Yang HAD done something, there was no way that Jaune would ever admit to it. He wouldn't even admit to Cardin blackmailing him, how could he say something that was possibly a major negative about one of their friends? Perhaps she would need to keep a closer eye on Jaune for the time being.

Jaune had noticed the looks he was getting from his partner throughout the day, and given how his entire team reacted the other day when he forgot to see them off to classes, he figured he should probably do so today.

"Sometimes it's like I'm team dad instead of team leader..." Jaune chuckled to himself as the thought passed through his mind. He was far more fitting to be a father than a leader, that's for sure.

Once his team had departed for classes, Jaune decided to make his way to team RWBY's dorm.

Because if he didn't go to Yang, she would come to him. And he could wager a guess that he really, REALLY didn't want that to happen.

Jaune knocked on the door to team RWBYs dorm. He figured he probably could have just snuck his way to the training halls and lock the door this time and keep Yang out, but that was also a bad idea considering the fact that Yang could easily just run and blab to everyone out of spite. Plus, having a friend who knew about your secret and could possibly help you... it was very tempting, to say the least.

The door opened up, revealing the white heiress, Weiss, standing at the doorway. As soon as her eyes settled on him, the look on her face shifted from neutral to annoyed, and he hadn't even said a word yet.

"H-hey, Weiss. I was wondering if-"

"Whatever you're going to ask, the answer is no."

"Oh... so Yang's not there?"

Weiss found herself blinking a few times in confusion. "Wait... you're looking for Yang?"

"Uh, yeah I am. See I was-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Weiss was shoved away from the door and replaced with the very girl he was looking for. "HEY! What are you doing you Blonde Brute?!"

"Hey there, Vomit Boy! Whatcha need?"

Jaune tugged at his collar a bit before speaking up. "I uh, well... I'm on my free period, and I heard you guys have it the same time as me. So I was thinking of uh... heading down to the training halls?"

The grin that made its way onto Yang's face was a bit unsettling, even moreso when she stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Jaune's neck.

"Aaw, you remembered! And here I was thinking that I'd have to... well, MAKE you remember. But let's not talk about that."

Jaune gulped nervously as Yang let go of him and stepped back inside the dorm for a brief moment, when she emerged again she had her gauntlets wrapped firmly around her hands.

"Alright then, let's roll."

"Wait, aren't you supposed to keep those in your lock-"

"Yang? Where are you going?" Both Yang and Jaune heard the voice of Ruby, who appeared in the doorway along with Yang.

"Oh, hey Jaune! How's it hanging?"

"Me and Jaune here are gonna go down to the training halls for another-"

"Nuh uh, no way, Yang! I forbid it!"

"...Huh?"

"Remember what you did to Jaune last time? I don't want Pyrrha to murder us all if you hurt him again!"

Jaune scratched his head in confusion as he stared at both of them.

"...Why does everyone keep saying stuff like that about Pyrrha?" He didn't notice the small sighs that Yang and Ruby both let out before they turned back to each other.

"Ah come on, sis. He asked ME to train with him! He's totally fine with it! Besides, we're not even gonna spar this time."

Ruby cocked an eyebrow as she gave her sister a skeptical glance, before turning to look at Jaune.

"I DID come here just to get her."

Ruby let out an unsure hum as she glanced back at her sister for a brief moment.

"Okay, fine. But no more big bruises on Jaune's face! Just... smaller, more manageable ones that can't be seen."

"...Ruby?!"

"Oh relax, Jaune! I'm just kidding!"

Jaune sighed a bit as he scratched the back of his head. Though he didn't get much of a break, since Yang grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began practically running to the training hall.

"Thanks, sis gotta train now bye!"

Jaune could see Ruby give him a nervous wave in return as he was being dragged off. He was really starting to hate himself more and more for not learning how to lock that stupid training room.

As the two of them stepped into the training room, Jaune turned around and swiped the keycard through the door. Before he turned away, this time he made sure that the door was actually going to be locked this time. Turning the handle, he found that the door opened yet again.

"I think this door is just plain busted, because it's not locking."

"Here, let me look at it."

Yang shoved Jaune out of the way and snatched the keycard from his hand, swiping it through the locking mechanism once again. When she went to turn the handle, this time the door remained closed. Jaune stared in shock.

"Why did the door lock for you?!"

"Uh, did you make sure to swipe this end of the card?" Yang held up the card and pointed to the small black line that was running across it. "It doesn't work if you don't use this end."

"...Well how was I supposed to know that?! Isolated from all technology, remember?!"

Yang rolled her eyes and tossed the card back at Jaune.

The two of them then moved to the center of the ring, Yang performed a few stretches while Jaune idly examined crocea mors before placing both the sword and shield on the ground nearby. After she had finished stretching, Yang couldn't help but notice that Jaune still hadn't changed. She began tapping her foot rather impatiently.

"Alright Jaune, let's go."

"Uh, go where?"

Yang pinched the bridge of her nose, placing her other hand on her hip in the process.

"We're not going anywhere. You're supposed to... y'know. Dragon up. Dragonize. Turn into big lizard. Get it?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

A short burst of fire later, Jaune stood in front of her in his draconic form. Yang took the opportunity to examine him a bit more closely, circling him slowly as she inspected his dragon body.

"Uuh... what are you doing?"

"I didn't exactly get a close look at you yesterday. But now that I actually take the time to look at you, you're pretty weird."

Jaune rolled his eyes. She could probably be a little bit more specific on that subject. "How so?"

"Well I mean, you're standing on two legs."

"And?"

"You look more like some kind of human dragon. Don't dragons usually walk on all fours and look a bit more... dragon-like?"

"Oooh. You mean like this?" Jaune burst into flames once more, his body shifting once again.

When he emerged, his outward appearance had changed into that of a more stereotypical dragon. He looked much more animalistic in this form, walking on all fours. His neck had slimmed down only slightly, and it was also elongated a bit more then previously. His tail had thinned out a bit as well, not being nearly as bulky as it was when he was in his humanoid form. It was more slender and whiplike now. In fact, Jaune as a whole had a much more slimmed down appearance than when he was a more human looking dragon. While he looked much more buff in his humanoid form, in his "true" dragon form he was more of a toned slender type of dragon, and nailed the stereotypical dragon look on the head, with a few minor differences such as his chin whiskers and the small patch of scraggly blonde hair on his head.

"Woah."

"Yeah, it's a really weird cozy feeling being like this. I don't change into this form a whole lot, but it feels a lot more comfortable then when I turn into my uh... What's the word...?"

Jaune held a claw up to his chin, scratching it as he tried to think of the specific word. "I think it sounds kind of like bi-something?"

"Bipedal?"

"Yeah! That's the one. Bipedal. This one is a lot more comfortable than my bipedal form."

"So why don't you use it more often?"

"Uuh... well... My parents always told me that being a bipedal dragon was more fitting."

Yang cocked an eyebrow as she stared at the dragon.

"Who cares what your parents think if this is what you like being?"

Jaune sat on his hind legs and hoisted his front ones into the air, waving them in front of his chest as if he were trying to object.

"I-It's not like that's the only reason. I think I work a bit differently when I'm like this, it's only minor things, but my body just feels almost lighter and less powerful. My other form is just kind of a balance between my human side and my dragon side, true, but I feel like there's more weight behind my actions while I'm in it."

"So like, do other dragons do that too?"

"No, actually. I think golden dragons are the only ones that can have a humanoid form and a true dragon form. I've never seen any of the other dragons besides my family in a humanoid form if they can."

"Huh, so other dragons look like what the fairy tales describe them as?"

"Yeah, and some species even look different, depending on where they come from."

"Really? Can you gimme some examples?"

"Well uh, dragons from Vacuo have a really long and slender body, almost like a snake. And they don't have wings either, part of their semblance lets them fly I think. Dragons from Mistral look like how I do now, but they have lots of fins all over their bodies and gills on their neck to boot."

"And Atlesian dragons?"

"They have fur all over their bodies. I think it has to do with the climate at Atlas. Basically, dragons adapt to their environment."

"That's pretty cool..."

"Uh no, that's what the fur is supposed to prevent."

Yang briefly imagined each type of dragon in her head before she snapped back to reality. They didn't just come here to talk, after all. So Yang clapped her hands together and got Jaune's full attention.

"Alright, we didn't come here to just blab, so let's get down to business!"

"Uh, business about what?"

"Jaune, you can't seriously be this dense. We're going to train! You, specifically."

"What?!"

"You said it yourself, you don't know how to use your dragon powers. So, we're gonna start training you on how to do that."

Jaune blinked in confusion as he stared at other blonde. Why exactly was she so interested in helping him out?

"So, how much do you know about your dragon... self."

"Uh, nothing outside of the basics. Like, about as much as you know about your body."

Yang got a bit of a grin as she leaned forward, even if he was a dragon she was still going to mercilessly tease him. "Oh, I know a LOT about my body, Jaune. Probably more than you do about yours. Maybe if you're lucky you'll get to find out more about my body too."

Jaune seemed rather unphased by the implications, instead opting to lower his head. "...Man, I never realized how lame I am. I'm a dragon who barely knows anything about his own anatomy outside the basics..."

Yang stood back to her full height and watched as the dragon in front of her curled up into a ball, almost as if he were a sad puppy pouting in a corner. She had to hold back a snicker, just because of how stupidly adorable it looked.

"I'm standing in front of a freakin' dragon who just called himself lame. I'm so on my way to seeing everything on Remnant."

Yang had decided that she had enough of Jaune's pouting, as she walked up to him and gave him a firm tap with her boot.

"Alright lizard breath, rise and shine. It's time we start training."

Jaune uncurled himself and rose to his feet, but he still kept the sad expression plastered on his face. Yang just rolled her eyes in return. This was one of the things she absolutely hated about Jaune. Never in her life had she met someone as self-conscious as he was.

"So, I guess a good question is uh... what form should I use for training?"

"Both? Duh?"

"...What? B-both?"

"Well, you should master every weapon you've got on you, which includes two forms. So I think our gameplan should be to focus on one form first, then focus on another once you've got the first down."

Jaune scratched his chin with a claw as he thought the idea over. It certainly seemed like a solid idea, even if he wasn't planning on using his true form all that often when compared to his bipedal one.

"That sounds like a good idea. So uh, which form should I train first then?"

Yang shrugged her shoulders in response. "Dunno, dude. It ain't my body. Whatever is most comfortable for you, I guess."

"Hmm... How about this one?" Jaune gestured down to his current true form. "Once I've mastered my true form, I can practice mixing it with my more balanced state."

Yang nodded as she stepped forward, his logic was certainly interesting. Train the arguably harder area first before moving on to the easier one. But Jaune always did things the hard way, mostly just because he stumbled into it.

"Alright then, Vomit Boy."

Yang cocked her gauntlets as she spoke.

"Show me what you've got."

"Wait wait! I thought you said we weren't sparring!"

Yang let out a small laugh before charging forward.

"I lied!"


	7. Leaving a Mark

Jaune found himself being flung against the wall of the training room once again. If this wasn't a case of deja-vu, then he didn't know what was.

"How is you beating me up again supposed to help me get better?!"

"I figured it'd be like one of those learning under pressure sorta things. Is it not working?"

"NO!"

"Aw come on, I only hit you ONCE. You can't go around claiming that it's not working if you haven't really even tried yet."

"I can and I will!"

"Nah!"

Before Jaune could offer any kind of a response, Yang charged forward and swung another fist at him. Now that he wasn't getting sucker punched, he could actually react to Yang and her attacks. He dodged the punch and slashed at Yang with his right claw, slicing the blonde brawler while also pushing her back a bit.

Yang was taken by surprise. Not only had Jaune managed to land a hit on her, it also HURT. That one little attack made it perfectly clear that Dragon Jaune was something that she couldn't take lightly, unlike his human self.

Jaune meanwhile, had decided to take the offensive since Yang was still caught in a state of minor shock. He charged forward on all fours, weaving in an almost snakelike manner as he closed in on her, waiting until he got within arms reach to stand on his hind legs and throw out his claws again.

The first claw was blocked by Yang's right gauntlet, while the second one just barely scratched her left while also scratching into her stomach. Jaune was actually a bit startled himself by all this action, he wasn't used to being capable of holding his own against anything, let alone another person. While his movements as a human always felt very unnatural to him, as a dragon he felt free, no longer hindered by having to work a body you knew little about.

Yang had been hoping that Jaune would close the distance between them however, and she buckled herself down before she unleashed a storm of punches at him. Jaune was able to dodge the bulk of her attacks, again slithering between each jab or uppercut that Yang threw at him with relative ease. However, halfway through her attack, she realized that aiming for Jaune's head would only complicate things for her. His elongated, serpentine neck allowed him to weave through attacks with ease, even if it's width was largely unchanged. So she began slowly aiming her attacks lower, until she began pummeling his chest instead.

Jaune continued swiping at Yang as she assaulted him, trading blows with her occasionally. His scales were hard, and he was able to shrug off a majority of the blows being piled on against him, but he noticed that his scales seemed to lack the toughness they usually had when he was in his bipedal form, as Yang's attacks were certainly hurting more then they did the other day. He decided that it would probably be in his best interest to put some distance between him and Yang until he could figure out a decent strategy against her.

In order to do so, he flipped himself backwards, swinging his body to the side as he did. Yang had just thrown a particularly wide swing as he dodged, giving him the perfect opportunity to counter attack. As he was in the air, he cracked his tail like a whip at her.

Yang was unable to recover from her wide swing in time, and took the attack right in her face. A loud snapping sound echoed throughout the hall as Jaune's tail connected with her, and the force of the attack flung her across the room much like she had done to Jaune beforehand.

She managed to hop to her feet almost as soon as she landed, but her head was spinning from the blow. She curled her hands into fists and glared at Jaune, not noticing the tinge of fear lining his face as she did.

Not only was he afraid of what she might do, there was also the issue of what had happened to her that she seemed to be completely ignoring. So he decided it would be best to try and end the match there.

"W-w-wait! Stop, time out! Match over! I give up!"

Yang grit her teeth as she stomped forward, her hand brushing against her left cheek which was now particularly sore. Once she reached Jaune, he flinched lightly as he saw her eyes slowly fade back to their regular lilac color. Her glare was soon replaced by a sly smirk.

"I guess the big ol' dragon is still afraid of the little girl, huh?"

"Funny. But this 'big ol' dragon' remembers getting knocked clear across the room and into unconsciousness by the little girl just yesterday."

"That was TWO days ago, thank you very much."

The two of them shared a small chuckle before Jaune held a scaled hand up to his left cheek, hissing a bit as he did.

"Yeesh. I'm so sorry, Yang."

Yang cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly. "What are you talking about?"

Jaune nervously scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, using the one he had on his cheek to point to the nearby mirror. As Yang stepped in front of it, she gasped at what she saw.

There was a recently closed medium sized gash across her left cheek, most likely from where Jaune's tail had connected with it earlier. Her aura had healed the blow, but it still left a mark that wouldn't be leaving her face for a few days at the very least.

"Oh god please don't kill me Yang, it was just a reflex, I didn't mean to-"

"Damn, Jaune. You really did a number on me."

He gulped nervously as Yang turned and approached him, but his anxiety was replaced with confusion as she clapped a hand over his scaly back.

"I'm proud!"

"You're... what?"

"Proud! Even though I still technically beat you, it came with a price! Nice job, Vomit Boy!"

He breathed a sigh of relief as he smiled down at Yang.

"So you're not mad then?"

Yang took her hand off of Jaune's back and smiled brightly back at him...

Just before she took her same hand and wrapped it around his neck, dragging his head down to her level. Her face twisting into a wicked glare as she did.

"Oh, I'm absolutely PISSED."

"O-oh god, I'm not ready to become a purse... please don't kill me!"

"Kill you? I'd never dream of it Jaune."

"B-because we're friends, right?"

"That, and because if I killed you, I wouldn't be able to TORTURE you over wrecking my beautiful face."

Jaune could feel his heart practically beating out of his chest before Yang suddenly released him from her grip, a grin spreading across her face as she did. He let out another nervous chuckle when he saw his friend grinning at him.

"Oh, thank god. I thought you were being serious."

"Haha, yeah I sure got you good. Or at least I will..." Yang took great care to mumble that last part, it'd be best if he didn't know when her payback was coming.

"Huh?"

"Nothing!"

Jaune was unsure about whether or not he should let his guard down, returning to his prone position with all four legs on the ground. Though both of them nearly rocketed off of the floor when they heard a loud banging coming from the door.

"YAAAAAANG! ARE YOU IN THERE? WE'RE GONNA BE LAAAAAATE!"

"It's Ruby! Quick, go back to being a human, Jaune!"

Jaune quickly shifted back into his human form, scrambling to pick up his weapons afterwards as Yang went to the door and unlocked it for her sister.

"It's almost time for classes Yang, what the heck could you possibly- WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!"

Yang was taken aback when she felt her sisters hands all over her face, observing the gash on her cheek.

"Oh. That. It's just a little parting gift from our friend over there." Yang pointed a thumb behind her at Jaune, who had walked up to the door after gathering up his gear.

Ruby's eyes went wide as dinner plates as they darted to Jaune, then back to Yang's cheek.

"W-what?!"

"Yeah, turns out Vomit Boy has been holding out on us. Anyway, enough about that, how about we go back to the dorm so I can get ready for class, huh sis?"

Yang shot Jaune a short wink before she brushed passed her sister. Ruby went to follow her, but not before turning back to look at Jaune.

"You are so dead, Jaune... Sorry?" Was the only thing she could think to say as she left him standing there.

Jaune let out a sigh as he glanced down at the floor before folding up his weapons.

"...Don't I know it."

After gathering the rest of his things, he began the slow trudge back to his dorm so he could prepare for the rest of his classes for the day. He was certainly still on the fence about whether or not Yang knowing his secret was a good idea.

Why couldn't his special power be some kind of mind wipe or something...?

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This was a rather short chapter, but I really wanted to get it out to finish up the cliffhanger from last time. I'm also going to be extending my self set deadline from uploading a chapter every three days to uploading a chapter every four, though this deadline can change at any time based on how many chapters ahead I end up getting.

Anyway, on a story oriented note:

I feel as though I haven't done an accurate job of describing how Jaune looks when in both of his dragon forms, so I'm going to give a decent example.  
The Bronze Dragons in World of Warcraft are a very accurate base as to what Jaune looks like, only much smaller and with a few missing features.  
For starters, Jaune's maximum size is only slightly bigger than the average Grimm Ursa, in both forms.  
In his True Form, Jaune is the closest to being a stereotypical dragon as you can get. In comparison to the Bronze Dragonflight, Jaune lacks the fin that lines the bottom of their necks. His scale color is also obviously completely different, being a shimmering gold color instead of bronze. His tail is also a plain lizard tail, without the ball on the end of it. His general build is a well tones kind of thin and finally, his wings lack the extra talon on the end of them.

In Jaune's True Form, he can stand on two legs and operate just like he can in his bipedal humanoid form, but it does feel a bit strange and cumbersome in comparison.  
In Jaune's bipedal humanoid form, a good comparison would be the inspiration from which this story came from, Jake Long. He looks like a fusion between a Bronze Dragon and Jake Long's dragon form, with the obvious differences being the scaly whiskers on his chin, the color difference, and his hair.

Both forms have their differences, which have already been hinted at and will perhaps be further elaborated on in the future.

Now that I have that out of the way, once again I would like thank everyone for your continued support and enjoyment of this story, and I encourage people who enjoy it to spread it around a bit. The more people I see enjoying my story, the more it makes me not only want to write more of this one, but it also makes me think of newer ideas for other possible stories in the future.

Again, I cannot thank you all enough for not only supporting me, but also enjoying the story!


	8. Weed Whacked

Once again Jaune found all eyes him as everyone sat at the table for lunch, though this time at least he didn't have a huge bruise on his face to be embarrassed about.

No, instead he had to be embarrassed about the fact that he left a decently sized gash on Yang's face. And while it was now close to being healed, it was still visible enough to garner everyone's attention. And just like before, an awkward silence filled the table as nobody wanted to speak up and say anything about said injury.

Until Nora plopped down at the table.

"Hey guys how come everyone here is all quiet and WOAH YANG WHAT HAPPENED YOU LOOK LIKE YOU GOT INTO A FIGHT WITH A WEED WHACKER AND LOST!"

"Why don't you ask your leader about that?"

Nora blinked in confusion before turning to Jaune. "Jaune do you know who hit Yang with a weed whacker?"

"Uh... I may have... caused that gash."

"WHAT?! WHY DID YOU HIT YANG WITH A WEED WHACKER?!"

"I didn't hit her with a weed whacker I hit her with my taaii-I mean I might have brushed her face with Crocea Mors."

Everyone paused for a brief moment as Weiss let out a short laugh. "Hah! Are you sure Yang didn't just accidentally fall down the stairs like you did?"

"It's true."

All eyes fell on Ruby. "He was the one who gave Yang that mark."

Weiss fell silent after that, no longer doubting Jaune if her own team leader along with Yang were both claiming it was him. The table once again went back into its awkward silence that it had been infamous for the past week, but moreso because nobody really knew how to respond to the revelation they had just been given.

"Does it still hurt?"

Yang glanced up from her meal to see that Jaune was staring intently at her, a look of worry on his face.

"Pff. This? I've been hit by far worse, Jaune." Yang let out a laugh before she continued, pointing a thumb at him as she did. "Look at this guy, he gets one good scratch on me and he thinks he's gonna send me to the infirmary!"

Weiss stepped into the conversation in annoyance. "Hmph. So you really think you're that good? Perhaps maybe you should spar with another one of us and put that theory to the test?"

"W-wait woah stop putting words in my mouth, I never said that!"

"Relax, Ice Queen. I'm just pulling his leg. Like he'd ever show any confidence in himself anyway..." Yang rubbed a hand over her mouth and mumbled the last part, before reaching for her drink afterwards.

Weiss cocked an eyebrow as she turned to her partner, apparently being the only one to hear her mumbling. Though she decided to simply shrug it off and continue with her own meal.

After all the controversy had been dealt with, the table once again returned to its cheery state, with everyone talking about what they had been doing the past few days, or the things that they perhaps planned on doing within the coming days ahead. Team JNPR had been the ones to finish their meals first, all of them opting to leave the cafeteria a bit earlier then usual so they could head back to their dorm and gather up their school supplies for the rest of the day.

Jaune rubbed his face a bit as he and his friends walked out of their room. Once again he had dodged another bullet, but this time it had almost been his own stupidity that would have ousted him. He was starting to worry that his time with Yang would prove to make his tongue a bit more loose then it should be. And he couldn't have him saying something he'd regret. He wasn't ready to tell anyone else yet, and he wouldn't be for quite-

"Jaune?"

His attention was snapped back into reality by his partner. "Oh, sorry, Pyrrha. Are you guys heading to class now?"

"Yes, but before we do I'd like to say that I'm..."

She hesitated for a moment, briefly glancing down before finally gathering up the courage to say what she wanted.

"I'm very proud of you."

"O-oh. Why's that?"

"Why is that...? Jaune, look at what you did to Yang! Leaving a mark like that only proves that you really have taken our training to heart!"

He was about to respond but a hand clapped itself around his shoulder, Nora's face appearing from behind him while also being a bit too close for comfort.

"Yeah! And that means when we all train together I have to worry less about beating you up and start worrying about getting beaten up! Maybe!"

Jaune shifted nervously in place. "Heh... uh... right..."

"Just think, Jaune! Soon you'll be able to beat EVERYONE! Except for me and Pyrrha, of course!"

"You never know, Nora. He may prove to be more than we can handle once he's been fully trained."

"Maybe our leader will turn into an unstoppable juggernaut that will ravage the forces of the grimm and bring them to the brink of extinction!"

The three of them laughed at the notion, before Jaune sent them off to class. Afterwards, he had decided that today he would take a break from training. He figured Yang would probably want one too, given what had happened last time. Of course as luck would have it, Jaune felt an arm clap him on the back out of nowhere.

"Hey there, Noodle Boy!"

Jaune resisted the temptation to leap up into the air in shock, how could Yang be so stealthy?! Turning around, he saw the blonde brawler standing in front of him along with Ruby who glanced up at her older sister quizzically.

"Noodle Boy?"

"That's my new nickname for him!"

"But I thought you called him Vomit Boy?"

"Yeah, but that's getting kinda old. Besides, you were the one who came up with that one. Can't be stealing your ideas forever!"

Ruby gave an unsure smirk as she nodded. She never used the name for him herself, and she didn't like her sister using it either. But that was something that she expected Jaune to tell her, although to her disappointment he never did.

"So why Noodle?"

"Well, look at him! He certainly looks like one!"

To emphasize this, Yang grabbed one of Jaune's arms and held it out. Ruby inspected the arm as if she were glancing over a weapon before coming to a conclusion.

"Yep. Definitely noodle-like."

"Hey!" Jaune pulled his arm back and gave the both of them an annoyed glare.

"That, and he looks like a giant noodle when he- Uh I mean when we train."

Jaune grit his teeth behind his lips before trying to change the subject. "Sooo, what brings you two here, huh?"

Ruby cocked an eyebrow before pointing a thumb at their door. "We live here."

"Right right, forgot about that."

"Actually, the reason we're here is because me and Ruby are going to hit up that new arcade that opened up in downtown Vale last week. Wanna come along?"

Jaune placed a hand on his chin as he pondered a question out loud. "...What's an arcade?"

Both Ruby and Yang stared at Jaune in disbelief, their jaws dropping as they did.

Ruby suddenly grabbed hold of him before she began violently shaking him. "WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN TO AN ARCADE BEFORE?! DO YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK?!"

"NO SHOULD I HAVE?!"

"THEY'RE ONLY THE MOST FUN PLACES EVER BESIDES WEAPON CONVENTIONS!"

Yang stepped behind her sister and grabbed her by her hood, pulling her away from Jaune. "WHY ARE THE TWO OF YOU YELLING?!"

"Sorry. It's just... how can someone have never been to an arcade before?"

Jaune scuffled his foot into the ground a bit, scratching the back of his neck as he did. "Let's just say I come from a village that wasn't big on technology."

"What? What kind of village can even survive without technology these days?"

"The same way they did it back before technology came along?"

Yang stepped between the two and put her hands on her hips. "Alright this is getting boring. Are you in or not, Noodle Boy?"

"Uh, don't we only have an hour and a half for our free period?"

Ruby pulled out a clipboard from... somewhere and began reading it intently. "Nope! Today is a half day, so anyone who's on the free period after lunch has the rest of the day off, while those who don't have a single class after lunch!"

"Oh... Huh... Alright then, I guess I'll go to the arcade with you guys."

Jaune found himself practically being lifted off the ground by both Yang and Ruby, the two of them running as fast as they could to the bullhead docks.

Yang stared at Jaune as the three of them road a bullhead into Vale. The pilot had been surprisingly understanding and totally up for bringing them to and from downtown Vale, mostly because his week had apparently been a slow one.

Jaune was taking the ride about as well as he took the first ride to Beacon. She instinctively pulled her feet as close to her as possible just in case he decided to hurl. Yang glanced over at her sister, who was blissfully unaware of the situation as she had put her headphones on and began blasting music in her ears. Perfect.

"Hey Jaune?"

Jaune glanced over at Yang, his face turning a bit green as he did. "Y-yeah Y-Yang?"

"If you're a you-know-what, why exactly do you get air sick so easily? Do you just hurl when you fly through the sky too?"

Jaune seemed to pale up a bit more at the question. Why would such a question bother him like that?

"I-I uh... It's been a uh... a long time since I've actually taken flight..."

Yang glanced down at the bullheads floor, her eyes narrowing.

"Yang?"

She glanced up at him and let out a rather loud sigh, before she starting laughing.

"Okay, I'm done. I'm friends with a dragon who can't fly, knows barely anything about his own biology, and is a complete DUNCE! I don't think I need to see the rest of what the world has to offer at this point."

"Hey! I can fl- fly! I just haven't done it in awhile!"

"Oh really? Then I guess we know what we're working on next."

"What?! How are we gonna do that?!"

Yang gave Jaune a smirk before tapping the side of her nose twice with her index finger, confusing him even further.

"What is that supposed to even mean?"

"It means shut up and we'll worry about it later, let's just enjoy today!"

Jaune just sighed and shrugged in response before the bullhead suddenly rocked back and forth, resulting in his face turning green again for a brief moment. Ruby took of her headphones and glanced out the side of the bullhead, noting that they were touching down on a landing pad.

"Looks like this is our stop, let's go find that arcade!"

As the three of them hopped off the bullhead, Yang made sure to inform the pilot to meet them back at that spot in a few hours before he took off and flew back to Beacon.

"Alright so do you know exactly where it is-"

Ruby interrupted Jaune's question when she grabbed both his arm and Yang's, pulling the two of them forward as she rushed into the heart of the city.

"I know EXACTLY where it is, I've been planning this for a whole week!"

As the small girl pulled the two of them forcefully up and down an array of streets and paths, Jaune had to hold his free hand up to his mouth. Ruby's speedy nature was almost as unbearable as flying on any type of aircraft, that was for sure.


	9. Bust-A-Move

Jaune, Yang and Ruby all stood outside the arcade. Jaune could hear a muffled symphony of sounds coming from within the establishment that ranged from music and laughter to explosions and yelling. He nervously glanced over to look at Yang and Ruby to see that the two of them seemed to be as excited as ever to head in and get started, but all these clashing sounds were making him a little nervous.

"Are you two sure about this? It sounds like there's some sort of war going on in there combined with some sort of dance club."

The two sisters glanced over at him and both glanced at each other in confusion.

"Uh, Jaune what exactly are you hearing? There's no weird sounds that I can hear."

He returned the confused gaze. "...Huh?"

"Yeah, it's completely silent out here aside from the normal hustle and bustle of a normal city."

Yang glanced down at her younger sister and cocked an eyebrow. "Hustle and Bustle? When did you start using that phrase, sis?"

"I heard Weiss say it once and thought it sounded cool."

Yang rolled her eyes and grabbed the two of them by the arms, dragging them forward along with her as they entered the establishment. "Well whatever, come on we're burning daylight here! Let's have some fun!"

As they entered the building, Jaune gazed in amazement at all the wonders that were laid before him. An entire building dedicated to the enjoyment of electronic gaming, the thing that he had only recently discovered within the last month. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the amazing selections of things to do, needless to say. In fact, he spent a majority of the time hopping from wall to wall trying to play each and every new machine that his gaze was met with.

Which also led to a few embarrassing moments.

"Uh Jaune, what are you doing?"

"Look at this game! It's like you're making a bunch of colored waterfalls spring to life! Not really sure how you're supposed to win it though."

Ruby slapped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to not laugh, while Yang just held a hand up to her head and slowly shook it while smiling.

"Jaune, that's a soda machine."

He glanced back at the machine for a brief moment before scratching his head. "Oh. What's it do then?"

"You get drinks from it."

"...Oh."

Luckily for the two of them, Ruby just assumed that Jaune was joking around and they continued on their day as normal. That is until the trio came across a strange machine that seemed to have two metallic pads in front of it, with multi colored panels strewn about the pads.

"Woah. This one looks cool, what is it?"

"Oh, that's a dancing game. You see the arrows on those colored panels? You have to step on them as they line up on screen to score points. All while doing it to the beat of the music that plays."

"Wow, I want to give this one a try for sure!"

Yang let out a rather haughty laugh as she stepped onto the pad to the right.

"You? You've got two left feet, Noodle Boy! I'd destroy any score you could get any day of the week!"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at his feet. "Yeah, you're probably right. I really don't dance a whole lot."

Yang's grin shrunk a bit before she glanced over at her sister, an idea popping into her head.

"Ruby! Get your fine little booty up here right now!"

In response, Ruby glanced around as if to look for someone else before she held up a finger to her face. "Me?"

"You're the only Ruby I know! Get up here and show Jaune how it's done! Unless you're scared of getting another beating by your sister like you did over at skeeball!"

"THAT LAST ROLL WAS A TOTAL FLUKE! I WILL DESTROY YOU YANG!" Ruby practically roared this as she hopped onto the left pad, selecting a song before Yang even had a chance to react.

A few minutes of furious dancing later, Ruby collapsed onto her knees with her face pink from the amount of physical movement she had been doing. Jaune glanced over at Yang to see that she had barely even broken a sweat, holding up a fist to her face and breathing on it a bit before wiping it against her shorts as if to gloat.

"Alright, Noodle Boy. Now you've seen how it works, ready for your thrashing?"

"Uh, don't you want to take a break first?"

"Nope! I'm all fired up and barely tired, let's go!"

Jaune gulped nervously as he walked towards the pad, a hand grabbing onto his pant leg before he could step onto it. Looking down, he saw that Ruby had latched onto his leg.

"Don't... do it, Jaune... she's... not human... just some kind of... dancing DEMON!"

This certainly didn't help his enthusiasm any, but he decided to continue on with accepting Yang's challenge despite Ruby's warnings. As he stepped onto the pad, he glanced at the screen to see that Yang was already selecting a song for them.

"This one is my favorite! You ready?"

He simply nodded nervously before taking one last glance down at the exhausted little sister that she had just mercilessly out-danced. He was starting to wonder if it was too late to back out when the screen in front of them suddenly lit up and music began blaring from the machine. Jaune watched as a small row of transparent arrow outlines appeared at the bottom of his side of the screen, a few solid arrows slowly falling from the top of the screen towards their matching brethren. Acting quickly, Jaune and Yang began hitting the panels with their feet as they began dancing to the song.

 _"Come at me"_

 _"And you'll see"_

 _"I'm more than meets the eye"_

Jaune couldn't help but briefly wonder why this song sounded so familiar to him, despite the fact that he had never heard it in his entire life.

 _"You think that"_

 _"You'll break me"_

 _"You're gonna find in time"_

 _"You're standing too close to a flame that's burning."_

Jaune didn't see what the big deal was, the song was decently paced but it wasn't anything amazing so far. He could keep up with Yang with ease.

 _"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July"_

 _"Sending out your army, but you still can't win"_

 _"Listen up, silly boy, cuz I'm gonna tell you why"_

His eyes widened a bit when he saw what looked like a storm of arrows quickly raining down from the top of the screen. Glancing over at Yang, she shot him a very knowing grin and winked just before she turned back to the screen, cluing him in on the fact that he should do that same.

 _"I burn!"_

Jaune found himself momentarily lost in the rhythm, his surroundings melting away as his legs began moving to the beat. It had been a long time since he was able to let loose and dance, and while normally he would find moving around as a human cumbersome at times, when he was dancing it felt as if he were just as free and nimble as he was when he was a dragon.

Ruby watched in awe as her sister and her friend were both dancing furiously to the music, the display even inspired her body to move to the beat a little bit as she continued spectating. And then Jaune started adding in little flourishes here and there to his moves, during one particular segment of the song he hit the left right and up arrows in perfect sequence before he added in a short spin and hit the back arrow. She wasn't even sure how he did it, but she watched him do it either way.

The song was halfway over and Yang caught herself occasionally glancing over at Jaune just to see how he was performing in comparison. She expected to see him flopping around like some sort of hopeless fish stuck on land, but instead saw him pulling off spectacle after spectacle that made her look like the fish. Gritting her teeth a bit before fixing her full attention on her side of the screen once more, Yang began performing her own little flourishes at the end of her dancing moves. Mostly just a few spins or some fancy footwork in between arrow pressing, but the one trick she had up her sleeve would be coming out soon.

Ruby continued watching the two dancers before noticing something quite odd about Jaune. He was on fire. And not in a figurative sense either, no his feet were literally ON FIRE. At least, that's what she assumed, because these machines were quite new. Maybe it was just some kind of holographic effect when your score was really good? She was about to say something, but her attention was quickly garnered by her sister, as was Jaune's.

The two of them watched as Yang landed a particularly nasty string of arrows that were close together before two arrows came barreling towards the line. Both a up arrow and a down arrow with a particularly long trail of the same arrows were quickly making their way towards Yang's side of the screen, to which she smirked a bit before doing something that neither Jaune nor Ruby expected. Yang performed a small flip before landing on the ground with a split, each leg resting on the designated arrows that she needed to hit. Just as the long string of up and down arrows ended, Yang quickly hopped back up onto her feet and continued dancing, leaving both Jaune and Ruby with their jaws hanging open.

The song was nearing its end now, and Jaune didn't want to be outclassed by Yang. For some reason, he felt an odd competitive drive in him that he almost never felt. So for the rest of his song, he let his mind drift back to the days when he practiced dancing with his sisters. To the banquets and balls that he would attend, dancing with the few cute dragon girls that would give him the chance to prove himself. And he just let all his dancing instincts take over, if they existed that is. He was pretty sure they did anyway.

The song neared its final climax, and Jaune found himself performing one final move that he had been taught was the most important when finishing a dance. His arms reached outward, and he swept up the closest person he could find in his grasp as he hit the final few arrows on his screen...

 _"Swing all you want"_

 _"Like a fever I will take you down!"_

As the song finished, Ruby gawked at the sight before her.

"Uh... wow..."

Both Yang and Jaune were panting heavily, sweat dripping down from their faces. Though it took the two of them a few moments to realize the position they were in. Jaune looked down at his arms, seeing that he had swept Yang up in them as if they had just finished an elegant dance, one hand firmly around her waist while the other was holding her left hand. The two of them stared each other in the eyes for a brief moment before Yang decided to speak up.

"Uh, I think you're supposed to take me out on a few dates first before we get to this, dude."

Jaune's response was to panic and drop Yang.

"...And you're not supposed to drop the girl either." Yang sat up and rubbed the back of her head as she stared up at the screen. Her jaw dropped when she saw the scoreboard.

"You both tied!" Ruby hopped onto the pad and hugged Jaune in a moment of over-excitement.

Which also seemed to infect Jaune, since he jabbed a finger in front of Yang's face and boasted proudly. "In your FACE Yang!" Though he quickly retracted his gloating when he remembered that he had dropped her onto the floor rather crudely. "Sorry."

As Yang stood up, she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at Jaune.

"Those were some pretty good moves, Jaune. Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Oh... well, uh there's a yearly ball that takes place in my village. And when you have seven sisters... you're kinda forced to learn dancing."

Ruby let go of Jaune and stared at him, dumbfounded at the prospect that he had SEVEN sisters. "SEVEN?! I CAN BARELY HANDLE ONE!"

"Hey, I'm not that much of a handful! Besides, I could say the same thing about you!" Yang was soon distracted however, when she glanced back over to the hi-score screen. She began entering her name, as did Jaune, when she noticed a familiar one that always drove her crazy when it came to this particular machine.

"UGH! This 'Lie' guy always has the highest score on the dance machines! I swear, one day I'm going to find out who he is and challenge him to a REAL dance off!"

The three of them began making their way to the exit, but found themselves stopping when Ruby brought up an interesting topic.

"Oh yeah, when you guys were dancing I saw the weirdest thing."

"What about my awesome moves are weird, sis?"

"Oh shut up, Yang. I mean, I saw Jaune's feet catch fire while you guys were dancing."

Both Yang and Jaune gave each other very uneasy looks before Jaune shrugged. His best guess was that he almost accidentally shifted his feet while he was lost in the moment. Thankfully, whether by instinct or otherwise, it didn't actually happen though.

"That IS weird. Maybe these new machines just have that effect when someone is really good though?"

"Yeah, I thought that too. But you didn't have the effect and you were doing just as good as Jaune was..."

"Uuh..." Yang tugged at her scarf a bit before Jaune managed to swoop in with a save.

"Maybe her side was malfunctioning or something?"

Ruby seemed to accept the answer, as she nodded a bit before her attention was grabbed by something else.

"PRIZE COUNTER!"

Before the two of them could react, Ruby zipped away. Jaune looked very confused as he turned his head to Yang, who just sighed and let out a laugh in return.

"My little sis. Sometimes, she's got the attention span of a squirrel, I swear."

The sun began hanging quite low in the sky as the three exited the arcade. Ruby was content with the prize she had saved up her tickets for, a large grimm teddy bear that she apparently had her eye on since they had first walked in. Though the strange stuffed animal made Jaune ask a serious question.

"So why exactly do they make toys of the Grimm if they're trying to kill us all?"

Yang scratched her head in confusion. It was a good question, one that she herself had never personally thought of.

"That's because Grimm are attracted to negative emotions. So if we make them look all cute and cuddly, we won't be scared of them! So they can't, y'know. Get attracted to the fear."

Jaune nodded in response while Yang continued scratching her head. The answer didn't really make as much sense as she hoped, but it would suffice for now at least. Once the three of them made it back to the bullhead pad, they found their pilot already there and waiting. As the three of them boarded the vessel, the pilot pulled Jaune aside for a brief moment.

"Here, kid. Take these. Don't need you making a mess on my bullhead."

Jaune glanced down at the pilots open palm to see two small pills resting in the middle of it. Taking both of them in his own hand, he eyed them curiously for a brief moment. "So what are they for?"

"They'll make it so you don't get airsick."

In response, Jaune's eyes lit up as he practically shoved them down his throat. "How did you know I got airsick?"

"Your face was practically green during the first trip. Figured this would help you a bit, I always keep some just in case."

Jaune scratched his head a bit and gave the pilot a smile and a thank you.

Satisfied, the pilot hopped into the cockpit and began starting up the bullhead. Jaune practically skipped to his seat and plopped down, ready to experience a flight where he wouldn't almost vomit up his entire days worth of food. And true to the pilots words, the pills worked effortlessly as they were able to enjoy their flight back to Beacon to its fullest.

"So, Noodle Boy. How was your first trip to the arcade?"

"It was AWESOME! You just gimme a call whenever you want to go again and I'll be up for it!"

Yang smirked a bit as she watched Jaune bounce in his seat. Even when just talking about it, his excitement knew no bounds. He certainly reminded her of her little sister, which she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't like.

"You do realize that when we do go again, you'll HAVE to rematch me on the dance floor, right? Can't have us being tied forever!"

Yang blinked in confusion. Did he really just challenge her to another dance off, before she could offer the challenge first? The Jaune she had gotten to know during the first month of the semester would never have been so confident in his own skill like that. Nevertheless, she wouldn't back down. Her confusion quickly turned into a sly grin that made him a little bit nervous.

"Oh, without a doubt. Can't have you thinking you're a better dancer than me, right?"

The two of them laughed before they continued talking about their day while Ruby silently watched on, half of her face buried in the back of her stuffed animal. She had never seen Jaune like this before, and she really liked this new confidence that he had about him. Maybe the time he had been spending with Yang was starting to benefit him in more ways than just physical? It felt weird seeing her sister hang out more with her best friend though. Well, her best boy friend anyways. Weiss was her best girl friend. Even though those two thoughts sounded extremely weird to her, she couldn't find a better way to describe it.

Either way, Jaune seemed to be changing for the better. And she was all for it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

I can't write dance scenes.


	10. Flight of the Noodle

Jaune waved to his teammates as they walked off to class, though today he was much less enthusiastic about it then usual. The reason for this being what Yang had said yesterday after their trip to the arcade had finished. He was going to practice flying today, and while he was by no means bad at flying it had still been a long time since he had actually done so. Not only that, but there were a lot of inherent risks to turning into a dragon and flying around practically anywhere. First, he had to worry about people seeing him. And if that wasn't bad enough, if he went to remote locations to practice he had to worry about the Grimm attacking him while he was flying. And he did not want to try getting into an aerial battle with a flock of Nevermore or, Oum forbid, a bunch of Griphons.

"You okay, dude?"

Jaune blinked a few times when he noticed a hand waving in front of his face, its owner being Yang.

"Oh, hi Yang. How long have you been there?"

"Like three minutes. You've just been staring into space not saying a word. The hell's wrong with you?"

Jaune gulped nervously. "Uh, I was just thinking. Maybe we could train something else today?"

"What? Why?"

"I uh... I just..." He let out a sigh. "Nevermind."

Yang folded her arms and frowned at him, but said nothing else as the two of them made their way out to the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest. Jaune eyed the metal panels that had flung everyone off the cliff during initiation.

"Never thought I'd have to be here again..."

"Yeah, it's weird huh? Even weirder when you think about how if you had your dragon powers back then, you wouldn't have-" Yang had a sudden look of shock, as if she realized something. "Is that why you were so scared of those?"

Jaune stared at her in confusion. "Huh? No. I just didn't like the idea of being flung into a forest of rabid monsters via catapult."

Yang let out a small chuckle. "Well, that's part of the business, buddy."

"...Then maybe I chose the wrong career path..."

He felt a hand slap him on his back, knocking him forward a bit. "Don't be that way, Jaune! What else are you suited for?"

"...I hear dragons are pretty good at desk jobs..."

Yang attempted to hold in her laughter, for some reason she found the joke so much funnier when he deadpanned it. It reminded her a bit of how Blake talked. But she found herself having a momentary burst as she laughed for a good couple of seconds. And her laughter was quite infectious, given the fact that Jaune started laughing a bit too. And while the two of them were laughing, Jaune took note of something that he hadn't noticed before.

"Yang's got a really pretty laugh..."

That was a weird thought. How exactly does a laugh sound pretty? Can a sound even be pretty? Isn't that more of a visual thing instead of an auditory thing? And most importantly, why was he just now thinking such a strange thought? He had been around Yang a lot lately, and he had heard her laugh quite a bit. But there was just something about the way she was laughing now that sounded different from how she was before.

"Yo, you're zoning out again dude."

He was shaken back to reality when he found Yang waving her hand in front of his face yet again.

"Right, sorry. So uh, I guess we should get started?" He paused for a brief moment when he realized he had no idea what they were actually doing. "What uh, what exactly are we doing again?"

"I dunno, I just figured you could fly around the forest a bit?"

Jaune shifted into his true form once again, as he figured it would be easier than going bipedal. He stretched out his wings as much as he could and walked up to the cliff, gazing down at the forest below him. And then a thought donned on him.

"What about the Grimm?"

Yang tilted her head a bit. "What about them?"

"There are Nevermore in this forest, remember? I don't really feel like having to get into a dogfight in the sky with one of those."

"Ah that's not a problem! After all, you'll have me with you!"

"Oh alright, that makes me feel-" He paused again when he realized the implications of what she just said. "What?"

Instead of offering a verbal response, Yang offered a physical one instead. She hopped up into the air and landed directly on Jaune's back, giving him a firm pat as she adjusted herself.

And that was when Jaune temporarily blanked. He felt a sudden spike of fear and anxiety that he had never felt before surge through him, causing him to violently buck Yang off of his back. As she crashed face first into the dirt, she sputtered a bit while wiping her mouth. Once she got to her feet, she found Jaune facing her and looking a bit... intimidating? She never thought she'd use that word to describe him. Even as a dragon.

"Jaune, what the hell-"

"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN, YANG!"

She recoiled in fear. She had never heard him yell like that. It wasn't one out of anger, but one of fear. "I-I'm sorry, Jaune. I uh, I should have asked..."

She noticed that he blinked in confusion for a moment before he shook his head a bit. "W-what...? No, I'm sorry. I don't... I don't know why I reacted like that."

The two of them stood silent for a few moments, Jaune took the time to collect his thoughts. What happened exactly? He felt Yang hop onto his back, and then he felt incredibly... well, he felt a large mixture of emotions. Fear, anger, disgust... and then there was one that he didn't recognize. His head had momentarily gotten hot, as if he were blushing in embarrassment. But what did he have to be embarrassed about? Well, having a woman hop onto your back in an attempt to ride you was embarrassing on multiple levels, actually. But he felt a weird tugging in his chest when it happened, it certainly wasn't the kind of embarrassment that was like seeing someone in their underwear or throwing up on a ship. It was... it was extremely confusing and he was going to stop thinking about it now.

Spreading out his wings, he took a few steps forward and glanced down at the forest below. Quickly mulling over all he was taught when he first learned to fly, he gulped a bit before turning back to Yang. She was looking away from him still, a hand wrapped around the opposite arm. She was clearly still shaken by what had happened, and it made him feel a bit bad.

"Maybe... maybe a show will perk her up?"

He touched the thought lightly, before he settled on it. Glancing down at the valley below, he took one final deep breath before he let go. He could feel himself tip forward, and the the wind rushed to meet him as he felt the sensation of falling. He could briefly hear Yang cry out for him before his eyes snapped open and his wings spread wide and stiffened, the rush of wind that flowed into them was almost intoxicating to say the least. The trees were getting closer and closer, forcing him to angle his wings so that the wind would carry him high enough so that he could fly above them. Jaune felt himself curve forward, the world shifting from vertical to horizontal as he found himself gliding over the treetops. Sticking a claw out, he briefly dragged it across the trees and sprayed leaves in his wake before he began flapping his wings to carry himself higher into the air.

Despite the fact that he stretched, his wings did feel a bit stiff. But he chalked it up to the fact that it had been at least two years since he last took to the skies, which would give any creature with the ability to fly some stiffness in its wings. But that stiffness was almost completely ignored by him, the pure amount of happiness and freedom that he had in this very moment overshadowed anything. At first he just simply flew in circles, or did a dive bomb or two before swooping back up into the air. And once he had those down, he began flying in loops, laughing and cheering himself on all the way.

Yang watched in amazement as Jaune began doing loops in the air. He was fast, like REALLY fast. Way faster than she thought he would be, given his size. She backed away from the cliff a bit when she saw him heading straight for it, no doubt ready to make a landing. And he did, slowing down to a more manageable speed before he completely stopped in front of her, his wings flapping a few times to keep him in place before he landed on the ground.

"Did you SEE THAT!? I WAS AWESOME!" He began laughing and spinning in circles a bit as he celebrated. "I forgot how amazing it felt to fly through the sky!"

"Hell yeah you were awesome! I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be able to fly! Well okay, I sorta can. I mean, if you consider me blast jumping with my gauntlets flying. I think it's more of just being thrown-"

She paused when she saw what Jaune was doing. It was a sight that forced her to slap a hand over her mouth, both to resist the urge to giggle uncontrollably, and to hide the blush that was forming on her face. Jaune was wagging his tail as he sat down, staring at her. It was a sight that was both hilarious and adorable.

Jaune stared at Yang in confusion for a moment before he got a brilliant idea. He might not have been able to offer her a ride on his back like she had wanted, but he could certainly... yeah, that would work.

He stood up on his hind legs and stepped toward Yang, who was unaware of what the action meant for her.

"Alright so, do you maybe want to try some WHOA-"

Yang found herself swept off her feet before she found herself staring up into Jaune's face. She had to blink a few times just to adjust to the situation. When did Jaune suddenly become this aggressive? She even felt her cheeks warming up a bit again... and this was over JAUNE of all people!

"W-woah there Noodle Boy, what uh, waddya doing"

All she got was a smirk in response as Jaune began walking back towards the edge of the cliff.

"J-Jaune?"

"I'm giving you what you wanted. I might not be able to let you ride on my back, but I can still fly you around."

Before she could even offer a response, she felt the world moving around her as the two of them dropped off of the cliff. She felt a tinge of fear and a rush of adrenaline as Jaune's wings spread wide, catching a large gust of wind as he glided over the treetops. This time Yang was the one to hold out a hand. As it brushed against the leaves, her eyes grew wide in excitement before Jaune quickly gained height. Despite the fact that she was essentially being held bridal style as Jaune flew, she could still take in so much. Just the sight of the forest from this height, the wind in her hair. It was certainly intoxicating for her, and she could only imagine how it felt for him to actually be flying with his own wings.

Jaune glanced down when he heard the shouts and giggles of excitement that Yang had started doing, a smile gracing his face when he saw and heard that she was certainly enjoying the ride. But his eyes widened a bit when he noticed the sun shining down on the duo, making both his scales sparkle and...

"Wow..."

Yang's hair along with her face were practically glowing in the sunlight, her smile seemingly enhancing the effect rather than being enhanced. Again, Jaune found himself appreciating his friends beauty in a way he hadn't thought of before. It made him think of what true beauty was, because he had to be honest with himself, he didn't really know what that was. When he spent all those times pining for Weiss, his heart really was never set on her. Sure she was pretty, but he never considered her beautiful. He knew that human teenagers were hormonal and they often tried to get into relationships during school, so he assumed that it would be in his best interest to pursue a few ladies when he had gotten to Beacon. He had always assumed that Weiss was just playing hard to get, but as time went on he figured out that Weiss had genuinely come to loath him whenever he was around. She still sort of did, but after he stopped flirting with her she seemed to accept him just a bit more.

None of this is what he felt when he glanced at Yang. She seemed to enjoy his company, she had quickly become an even closer friend than Ruby was. And that was saying a lot, since he felt a strange kinship with her given her awkward nature.

And then a thought passed through his mind as to when Yang became such a close friend to him.

"Ever since she found out I was a dragon."

That was the real reason she had suddenly clung to him with the desire to help him. She was friends with a mythical creature that was thought to not exist, how could she just ignore that fact and act like he was a normal person? He didn't think that Yang ONLY liked him for being a dragon, but would she have really treated him the same way had he approached her as a human and tried for a closer friendship? He had his doubts.

His thoughts continued for the rest of the ride before finally he returned to the cliff and set Yang on her feet. Shifting back into his human form, the two of them began their walk back to the academy. Yang took the opportunity to wrap an arm around his neck, chatting with him on the way back.

"That was the coolest thing I think I've ever done. And that's saying a TON! Thanks, Jaune!"

"Heh, it's uh... it's no problem."

She frowned a bit. Something was wrong with him NOW? They were just having so much fun... what the hell happened? Why was he so moody today? Was he on some sort of guy period or something?

"What's wrong with you today, Jaune? You're acting weird."

"It's... it's uh... nothing..."

She narrowed her eyes before tightening her grip on him. "It's something. So spit it out."

"I uh..." He really didn't want to. "It's just..." But the curiosity inside of him was just eating away at him. "You..."

"Yang, do you genuinely like me as a friend?"

Yang blew a raspberry in response. "What a stupid question. Of course I like you as a friend, why would you..."

The realization hit her. Was he developing feelings for her? Oh that would be bad... well, it's not as if he wasn't a good looking guy... alright he was an okay looking guy. But... being a dragon and all. How would that even work in be-

"It's just... you never really spoke to me all that much before you found out I was a dragon."

Okay maybe that wasn't it at all. Maybe it was even worse.

"I just kinda feel like... that's the only reason you started hanging out with me."

The two of them stopped walking for a moment. And that was when Yang realized that he wasn't wrong. The main reason she had taken such an interest in him was because of his secret, but was that the only reason? She didn't want it to be, because not only would she feel awful about it, it could ruin her friendship with him as well.

"Well... you aren't wrong. BUT! I think..."

"You think...?"

"I think that you're a real nice guy, Jaune. And the time we've spent together when you weren't a dragon has been just as fun as when you are."

His head lowered a bit. "Yeah..." He clearly didn't fully believe her.

"Well, if it makes you feel unsure, how about this then. Why don't we get to know each other more?"

He perked up a bit at that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we should just chill out one day and just... talk. About ourselves. Y'know, our interests, our life, things like that."

"Yeah... that sounds like it could be fun..."

She smiled a bit before pulling him back towards her, the two of them continuing their walk. She had to admit, she could have at least taken the time to get to know him a bit more before they jumped into their training. But the important thing was that now she was going to make it right.

"So how about we start that talking by grabbing a bite to eat when we get back on campus, huh Noodle Boy?"

He flashed a small smile before he agreed.

"Yeah, but I'll need to remember to pack some airline food for the next time we go out for a flight."

Yang let out a small chuckle and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, that's another thing we've got to work on. You need better jokes."

"They made you laugh two times today though, didn't they?"

She paused for a brief moment. Again, he wasn't wrong.

"Touche, Noodle Boy. Touche."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

For those getting bored, expect more plot soon.


	11. Barbed Memories

Darkness. That was all he could see, hear and feel. His back hurt, it burned and it throbbed, he could feel needles poking and prodding his scales. His wings hurt too, but his back... What had happened? Suddenly, a sound. A door opening, panicked footsteps.

"Where is he?! WHERE IS MY SON?!"

That voice... it was his father? He tried to call out for him, but he found himself stuck in the void, his voice being swallowed up by the darkness.

"Calm yourselves, he is stable."

Another voice. One that he didn't recognize.

"Don't tell either of us to stay calm! He could be crippled for the rest of his life!"

And now... Mom? Mom was here too? What about him... being crippled? How had that even...

"I can assure you that he will not be. The Tyrant Karalis's bite did more damage to his back than his wings."

"Is that supposed to make us feel BETTER?!"

"It would take far more than a single short-lived bite from a Tyrant Karalis to cripple a dragon via their spine. You know that."

There was the sound of a door slamming open.

"Where is my student?! Is he-"

"STUDENT?! So you ADMIT that you were the one teaching him how to... how to THROW HIS LIFE AWAY!"

"I did no such thing, I was teaching him how to-"

"SHUT UP! GET OUT OF OUR SIGHT! THIS WAS YOUR FAULT, REUS!"

"How DARE you accuse me of-"

There were sounds of a brief scuffle, before a brief silence. Then the voices started again.

"YOU FILLED HIS HEAD WITH DREAMS OF BEING A WARRIOR! AND LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

"I did NOT instruct him to do what he did! He did it of his own choice!"

"BECAUSE HE WANTED TO BE A HERO! LIKE YOU!"

"I am no hero."

"...That much is apparent. Get out of our sight. You are FORBIDDEN from seeing him again."

There was silence before he heard the sounds of more footsteps, and then the sound of a door closing. There were sighs of relief all around. He felt a warm presence at his side, but he couldn't react to it.

"Everything is going to be alright, Jaune. Your mother and I are here."

He desperately wanted to reach out and embrace this warmth, but he felt the darkness creeping around him now. Slowly draining him of what he assumed was his consciousness.

"We won't let anything hurt you again. We won't let you be taken from us..."

Again, the pain in his back started again. This time it began getting more severe, causing him to squirm and writhe in agony. His vision began to grow darker and darker as the pain increased, before he heard another voice whisper in his ear.

"I'm sorry, Jaune. I should have asked first..."

"...Yang?"

Why was he hearing her all of a sudden? He struggled to call out for her again, and as he did the pain in his back increased. His struggling eventually slowed to a stop when he could know longer take the pain, and then... the darkness consumed him.

Jaune awoke with a shout, sweat practically drenching his entire body. What in the name of however many hells existed was that?!

"Jaune! Are you alright?"

Looking to his side, he saw the rest of his team practically falling out of their respective beds in shock. He sat up further and began rubbing his face with his hands in an attempt to both calm himself down and wake up more.

"Jaune, please calm down. You're alright!"

Glancing over to his side, he saw that Pyrrha had seated herself on the edge of his bed, a hand reaching out for his shoulder. He instinctively pulled away for a brief moment before allowing her to try and comfort him.

"W-what happened?"

"You were shouting about your mother and father in your sleep... and it looked as if you were convulsing in your bed."

Jaune rubbed his eyes a bit before he looked over to Ren and Nora, the two of them both also being woken up by his apparent episode. He expected Nora to be ready to strangle him for waking her up, but instead she looked... much more concerned then he ever would have imagined, at least at this hour anyway.

"Did something happen to your parents, Jaune?"

Turning back to Pyrrha, he scratched his head and thought for a moment. No, nothing had happened to his parents. They were fine when he had left for Beacon... But the dream wasn't about his parents it was about...

"No, I think something happened to me..."

Everyone shared a confused glance. "What do you mean that you THINK something happened to you?"

"That's just it... I don't remember. I was just floating in a void. And I heard my parents talking about something that happened to me with... I think a doctor?"

Pyrrha held a finger up to her chin and pondered briefly on the information. "Did anything else happen?"

"My back was in so much pain. Like, it was ready to snap in two. And the doctor mentioned something about a... Tyrant Karalis?"

He noticed that when he named... whatever it was that he named, his friends grew incredibly tense as they all exchanged another glance. Pyrrha in particular looked very uneasy.

"...Jaune..." She turned back to him, her eyes fogging up a bit. What did they know that he didn't? "I'm not an expert on it but... I think... I think something happened to you. Something that your mind is blocking out."

"...Huh? What do you mean?"

"Tyrant Karalis are a very rare and dangerous type of Grimm that only attack settlements in the wilderness. And it's very strange that it would be mentioned in your dream the way it was."

His gaze fell to his sheets as he took in this information. Something that his mind was blocking out? He didn't remember anything big that had happened in his life... but then again he guessed that he wouldn't if his mind was making the effort to keep the memories from him.

"I'm uh, sorry I woke you guys up. I think I'm okay now."

The three of his friends looked unsure, but Ren and Nora nodded and returned to their respective beds. Pyrrha however, was in less of a hurry to leave his side. There was more to this than he was letting on, and it worried her deeply.

"I can... I can stay with you if you want, Jaune."

"Heh... no, it's okay, Pyrrha. I'll be fine. But thank you, that means a lot to me."

She seemed to have trouble accepting the answer, but she gave him a tender smile and a nod before she got up and returned to her own bed. But she couldn't help but feel worried about Jaune, and she was even more worried about what she had heard him mumble to himself just before he woke up shouting.

He had been mumbling something about Yang. And for some reason, the mention of her name made Pyrrha tense. But she did her best to shrug the feeling off and go back to sleep.

Later in the day, Jaune found himself entering the library during his free period. Yang was disappointed that they were skipping out on training, but she seemed to understand the urgency without needing to know the full details. He didn't want to trouble her with the mention of his nightmare, after all. Glancing around the library, it was a bit more packed then usual, most likely because of Professor Ooblecks next test on the history of Vacuo. Luckily for him, that was something he wasn't concerned about right now. No, right now he needed to find a book on Grimm. As he casually strolled through the aisles, looking through the selection of books that they had, he failed to notice where he was going and ended up bumping into someone.

"Oh, sorry about that-"

Looking over at the person, he noticed that she was oddly familiar. She had long black hair, with a bow being nestled on top. Oh, right. This was Blake. He really couldn't blame himself for not recognizing her for a moment, he's only conversed with her maybe two times since he even got to Beacon. And they all eat lunch together almost every day, but her face is always shoved behind the pages of a book, so he couldn't identify her facial features very well.

"Hi, Jaune. It's alright, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going anyways."

Glancing down, he noticed that she had been in the process of reading a book, most likely as she was walking. That was one thing that she was almost always doing, he at least knew that much about her.

"Looking for some books on Vacuo?"

He blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I saw you wandering around the library. I assumed you were looking for something specific, since Oobleck has his test coming up."

If she was so aware of her surroundings, then how exactly did they bump into each other...?

"Uh, no actually. I'm looking for a book that might help me identify a certain Grimm."

Blake placed a bookmark in her book before closing it, giving him her full attention. "Why do you need a book like that? Did you get an assignment on Grimm?"

"N-no... It's just, there's one that I've had on my mind lately that I need some more info on."

Shrugging a bit, she beckoned him to follow her as they walked through the library. Things felt a little strange as they strolled along, since they were doing so in complete silence. So Jaune opted to try and engage Blake in conversation.

"You uh, you sure know this place like the back of your hand."

"I spend a lot of time here."

And with that, the conversation had ended. Blake was a lot harder to actually talk to than even Ren.

"You've been spending quite a lot of time with Yang lately."

He jumped a bit at that statement. He hadn't expected her to even care, let alone talk to him about it. "Uh, yeah. I guess I have."

And once more, the conversation ended with just that. What was even the point of her saying that? Once the two of them got to a certain aisle, Blake pulled a book from one of the bottom shelves and handed it to him.

"Here, this should be what you're looking for."

"Wow, you found that with no trouble. Thanks!"

She offered him a small smile and a nod before she went over to the nearby table, sitting down so she could get back to reading her own book.

Jaune sat down in the seat next to her and began flipping through the book. Pictures of various Grimm and their anatomy flipped by as he turned the pages, determined to get some answers on his nightmare. He continued on until he got to the page he desired. There weren't many grimm names that started with a K, so this would be easy enough. As he glanced down the brief list of names, he found two that he wanted. Karalis and Tyrant Karalis. A few page turns was all it took before his eyes were met with the Grimm's terrible visage.

Karalis were very small Grimm for what they were. Raptors, reptilian creatures that seemed to share resemblances with birds. And these were no different, with their similar structure. However, different from the raptors from the history books, the Karalis seemed to have barbed feathers on their arms and head that could be flicked at enemies, much like a Nevermore. The skull of the Karalis looked as if it's Grimm mask were more of some sort of strange voodoo mask as an array of blood red feathers decorated its wood-like texture. Karalis were fast, efficient and deadly. They worked in packs, much like Beowulves. But unlike the wolf grimm, Karalis could efficiently communicate with each other via near silent hissing and clicking noises. Using this knowledge, their attacks are often coordinated and swift. Karalis that live for long periods of time eventually grow in size and turn into Tyrant Karalis.

As his eyes settled upon the silhouette of the Tyrant Karalis, he felt himself heave a bit. The Tyrant Karalis was much different in appearance to its smaller relative, as it bore the form of an ancient reptile known as the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is said that the Grimm were the ones that hunted the mighty reptiles into extinction, or perhaps they had tainted them and morphed them into the Karalis of today. Either way, the Tyrant Karalis was even bigger than a Goliath. Standing on two powerful legs, it was infamous for crushing things with its might jaw. Notably, the Tyrant Karalis has a large underbite compared to what its smaller brethren have. And instead of feathers, its body was adorned with thorny small spikes, with three particularly jagged ones lining the top of its mask, almost like a crown. Its long arms replaced by short and stubby ones that made it look just a tad goofy until you saw the rest of the creature they were attached to. Its tail was powerful and large, a spiked ball adorning the end of it to crush anything that dared attack it from behind.

And as he took in this monsters form, Jaune momentarily lost himself. A roar echoed in the distance, startling him immensely as he felt fear welling up inside him.

"Jaune? Are you alright?"

He was snapped back to reality by Blake, who was looking at him in concern. "W-w-what?"

"You... you look like you're having a panic attack. Are you okay?"

Looking closer at him, she could see that he was beginning to sweat. Not only that, his eyes had trouble focusing as they shook in his skull. His breathing became fast and labored, and his entire body looked as if it would give out on him at any moment. Glancing over to the open book, she saw the picture of the grimm that he was looking at. And judging by the way he suddenly started acting, she could only wager a guess that there was some history behind it. Reaching her hand over, she shut the book for him.

"Maybe you should stop reading this."

"Y-yeah... I-I think you m-might be right..."

Jaune took a few deep breathes before he pushed the book away from him. Whatever memories he just unearthed, he really didn't feel like dealing with them right now. It was possibly a mistake to even try and get some answers in the first place, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him for once. In an attempt to calm himself down, he tried to engage Blake in another conversation.

"So uh... you got any plans for the next few days?"

Blake stared at him, her eyes narrowing a bit. He wasn't sure why she gave him such a weird look until he realized what the question sounded like it was implying. "Uuh, just out of curiosity. I'm not, y'know... hitting on you or anything."

"Weiss wants to go down to the docks tomorrow, she probably wants to spy on the competition for this years Vytal Festival."

"Vytal Festival?"

Blake gave him yet another funny look. "You do know what that is, right?"

"Uuh. Nope."

"But... how do you NOT know what it is?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head nervously. He was getting some deja-vu. "Well, it's because I lived on a pretty isolated island."

"Unless it was out in the middle of nowhere with no towers, I don't see how-"

"That's uh, exactly what it was. I'm from Vytal itself, but I've never heard of a festival for it."

Blake began rubbing her temples with her hands as she let out an annoyed grunt. "You're from the place that the festival is based off of but you don't know what the festival- Oh just forget it."

"The Vytal Festival is an event that takes place every other year where people from all four kingdoms come together to celebrate their cultural diversity. The top huntsman and huntresses from the four main academies also come together to participate in a tournament to prove that their academy is the best."

Jaune rubbed his chin as he took the in all the information. Why exactly had the elders never mentioned such an event before? He thought they would have at least wanted to see how the warriors of the outside world were progressing.

"Huh. Sounds cool."

Blake shut her book and got out of her chair, looking down at him after she did. "Well, we'll be participating in it this year, so I hope you'll at least be ready for it."

Jaune gave her a small but confident smile. "Ah don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You guys will probably be awesome though."

Blake returned the smile. "Probably?"

He let out a small laugh. "Sorry, I meant certainly."

He glanced at the book of Grimm before turning back to Blake. "Well uh, I guess I'll get going too. Thanks for helping me find this book, Blake. I uh, I don't think I'll be checking it out though..."

Her expression softened a bit at the mention of the book that drove him to his small panic attack. "No problem, just... just make sure you take care of yourself, alright?"

Any book that triggered what she assumed were repressed memories probably left someone questioning a lot about themselves. She didn't really want him to end up hurting himself in search of answers.

"I will, just make sure you do the same for yourself!" And with that, the two of them waved to each other briefly and parted ways.

He didn't find the answers that he wanted, if anything he just brought up more questions. But he did at least learn something new about the Vytal Festival, and how he would probably need to do some research into that at a later date just to make sure he fully understood it.

And on top of that, he got to hang out with Blake a bit and talk to her. She was a lot like Ren, but she seemed a lot more reluctant to talk than him. She actually reminded Jaune a bit about himself, but she still at least carried herself with more confidence than he did.

Maybe that should be the next thing he should work on...

He was a Dragon after all, and what kind of Dragon wasn't confident in their abilities?

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This chapter came a lot earlier then usual, mostly because I just felt like throwing everyone a bone.

Some trivia about the Karalis and Tyrant Karalis!

Karalis is Latvian for King, so the name translates out to Tyrant King in English. And the Tyrannasaurus Rex is generally regarded as the King of the dinosaurs, so I figured it would be fitting. I also decided on a more tribal looking appearance for these grimm, since they are older and only appear deep within the wilderness. Perhaps we'll see them again, perhaps not. Only time will tell.

Until we meet again, thank you all for your continued interest in the story!


	12. Shattered

Jaune found himself crouching in the alleyway, his entire body shivering as he gazed out into the streets. Screams broke out as a few dragons scurried further into town, no doubt attempting to get to a safehouse. A roar broke out from the direction that the people were coming from, and if he listened closely he could hear the sounds of battle slowly creeping in on his position. They were pushing in deeper. These were some of the most confident Grimm that he had ever seen, it seemed as if nothing could stop their death march as they pushed into the town.

He wasn't sure what had happened, the last thing he remembered was that he had snuck out to have a late night talk with Reus. While they were talking they heard the ominous sounds of the warning horns, a sign that the runic barriers that were set up around the village had been breached. Reus had instructed him to get back to his home, and while he had attempted to do so he found himself forced into this alleyway when the path became cluttered with warriors battling grimm, and the sky was filled with a flock of Nevermore meaning that flight was out.

Glancing both ways, he saw that he had a small window of opportunity to join the adults as they ran to the safe house. Taking said opportunity, Jaune burst out of the alley and ran as fast as his four legs would carry him. He took only brief moments to glance around at the destruction that had already overtaken the town, fires and smashed buildings were the most common sight. A brief explosion of rubble and wood ahead forced him to stop as he witnessed two large packs of Karalis rush in from all angles, pouncing on the group of adults that he had been trying to catch up to. He turned and ran down the nearest alley, the screams of the adults echoing from behind him. He shut his eyes hard as he picked up his pace, before slamming into two trash cans that were in front of him. He tumbled into the street and scrambled up as fast as he could, his head darting around to try and find an escape route.

"HELP!"

His gaze turned to a small dragonling, backed into a corner by a lone Karalis. It snapped at her as it drew closer, drawing a scream from her lips. He briefly shut his eyes and glanced away, but he wouldn't be able to just run and leave a child to be ripped apart. He had to do something. He had to be the warrior that he wanted to be, even if he had no real training. He took in a deep breath before he charged forward, and lunged onto the back of the Karalis. Then he did the only logical thing he could think of doing. He sunk his teeth into the back of the creatures neck, and pulled back as hard as he could. A sickening rip rang out as he tore out the back of the Karalis's throat, the creature screeching in pain as it tumbled to the ground and died. Jaune rose to his feet, spitting out the nasty flesh that was still in his mouth. He stood there with the girl, panting as they looked down at the dead Grimm.

Jaune turned his head to the frightened child. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes. Thank you."

Jaune gave the girl a smile before he beckoned her to follow. "I'll get us both to the safe house, come on."

Taking her hand, he began guiding her down the street with haste before the girl let out a shrill scream. "Behind us!"

Turning around, Jaune's eyes widened as he saw three more Karalis charging at them. He pushed the girl behind him and stood on his hind legs, his claws ready to strike. The first Karalis came head on, which he scratched at and pushed it away. The other two both came at him from opposite sides, their claws and teeth sinking into various spots on his torso. He let out a cry in pain before he shook the two of them off and spun around, batting away all three with his tail. Just when it looked like he might have had a chance at turning the tide of battle, the ground shook. And then it shook again. And again, growing in severity with each tremor. The girl behind him screamed and attempted to hug herself closer to him.

"What's going-"

He never got the chance to finish his question.

Jaune felt something enter his back, and his torso. It felt like a collection of swords had just stabbed their way into his skin. His vision blurred as he watched the world suddenly rush away from him, as if he were being lifted into the air. He turned his head weakly to see what had happened to him. His gaze was met by that of a Tyrant Karalis, that had clamped its jaws around his body. Jaune attempted to struggle in the creatures iron grip, but found himself unable to break free.

Another scream rang out from below, garnering Jaune's attention despite his situation. The three Karalis from earlier had surrounded the girl, and were slowly closing in on her. Each one of them glanced at the other and gave an affirmative click or hiss before they all turned their gaze to the dragonling.

Jaune screamed out in a panic. "NO!" He knew what was coming next as they began circling the little girl slowly, as if savoring their prey's fear.

Jaune felt the hot breath of the Tyrant Karalis all over his body as it seemed to let out a snort before it began tightening its grip on him, sinking its massive teeth deeper into his flesh. But despite the pain, despite his vision blurring further, he could only watch on in horror as the smaller Karalis finally lunged at their next victim.

In his last few moments of consciousness, all Jaune could remember seeing was the blood and scales of a young dragonling being flung from her body. And her screams of agony permanently branded themselves into his mind.

Jaune sat up in his bed, this time the nightmare waking him in a more calm fashion. Glancing to his side, he saw that his friends were still sound asleep in their beds. Sniffling a bit, he noticed that his face was wet, not with sweat this time but with tears instead. He let out a sigh as he pushed his covers off and turned his body to the side. He got to his feet and walked to the bathroom so he could splash some water on his face.

However, unbeknownst to him, he had indeed woken one of his friends up. The surface of the bed next to his shuffled a bit, and out poked Pyrrha's head from her covers. She glanced into the bathroom and watched as Jaune stared at himself in the mirror, tears streaking down his face as he did. She almost felt herself tearing up a little at his expense.

"Oh Jaune... When will these nightmares stop plaguing you... What... what happened to you, Jaune?" She thought about getting up to comfort him, or possibly waking up the others to help her do so. But she decided against it and simply watched as he splashed water on his face and broke down into more tears, silently weeping as he continued to gaze at his reflection.

She wished that he would tell her more. She wished she had the courage to just confront him about it when he wouldn't. But she didn't, and for more reasons than just courage. How could she just ask him to dive into his mind and unearth painful memories? What if she unearthed something that could possibly break him? She could only hope that within time, Jaune would be able to take care of this problem himself if he had no intention of asking others for help. She let out a sigh before she turned away from the bathroom, closing her eyes so that she could try and go back to sleep.

If it wasn't bad enough that he was being plagued by nightmares during the night, during the day he was being plagued by a loud blonde who loved teasing him.

"Well... Yang isn't THAT bad..." He thought to himself as he shifted into his dragon form and began doing stretches. And then he felt his behind receive a firm slap as Yang walked by.

"Hey Noodle Boy, ready for some more training today?"

He let out a grunt as he watched her begin her own pre-training stretches. Maybe she was just as much trouble as his nightmares were. Although the thought was pushed out of his head as he watched Yang continue to stretch, taking in her figure for a moment. She was quite a sight to behold, which was the very least he could say. He found himself briefly stopping his stretches, which annoyed him greatly. But he couldn't find the strength to look away from her... shapely-

"Okay. Stop. Just stop, me." He scolded himself as he clonked himself in the head a few times with his fist before returning to his stretching exercises.

Yang ended up finishing her stretches first when a thought donned on her. One that she would never have had before. Jaune had yet to breath any fire in front of her. How had she not noticed this sooner? Today she would rectify this.

"Hey Jaune, you can breathe fire, right?"

"Yep."

"Do it then."

He turned to her and gave her a confused stare. "...Huh?"

"You heard me, do it."

Jaune scratched the top of his head. Yang had suddenly become bossy during their training sessions as of late, and it was certainly a change in how she usually acted. But either way, he obliged. Taking a deep breath before expelling a cone of fire harmlessly into the air. Yang smirked and nodded as she watched the fire dance in the air for a brief moment before it dissipated.

It didn't last very long before he started hacking up smoke like he was being suffocated.

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's... really hard... to breath fire..."

"That doesn't sound right. You're a dragon, you do that on a regular basis."

He shot a small glare at her in response. "Oh I'm sorry... would you like to show me how to do it?"

"No, I want you to do that."

"What?"

"Do it again."

"Again, What?"

"Breath fire again. And again. Until you feel like you're about to pass out."

Jaune stared dumbfounded at her before he continued his questioning. "Why?"

"Because, that's the only way you'll ever get used to it. Maybe try some breathing exercises too."

He let out a sigh as he turned away from Yang and took another deep breath. She had a point, it's just the fact that it wasn't very enjoyable to constantly choke on smoke after every exhale. Another column of fire shot out from his mouth, and again he found himself gagging on the smoke that followed. He repeated a this a few more times before he found himself getting a bit lightheaded, the room spinning slightly as he glanced around.

Yang meanwhile, was watching him intently. Noticeably, his throat would begin to swell up until the point where the pressure forced him to finish breathing, so he could gag on the smoke that followed and release it. There had to be an easier way for him to filter it without having it all build up in his throat or windpipe before all billowing out at once... but how?

During one of Jaune's final attempts to breath more fire, something went horribly wrong. Just before he exhaled, he let out a loud sneeze instead which resulted in two smaller columns of fire bursting out of his nostrils.

"AAAGH!"

Jaune cried out in pain as he rolled to the floor, his hands clamped over his nose as he continued rolling. Under normal circumstances, Yang would probably be on the ground as well, though she would be dying of laughter. But the goofy display gave her a brilliant idea.

"Jaune!"

"WHAT?!"

"I just got the BEST idea!"

"Is it taking me to the infirmary?!"

"You wish! Now get up!"

Yang proceeded to pull Jaune up onto all fours before grabbing his head, pointing it upwards and away from her before letting go.

"Okay now, I want you to breath fire. But this time, try breathing through your nose at the same time."

"Uh, alright I guess..."

He proceeded to take another deep breath before unleashing another jet of flames, this time taking care to also exhale through his nose. The end result was two small pillars of smoke rising out from his nostrils as he continued to spew fire from his mouth. Miraculously, Jaune found himself able to hold his stream of fire instead of firing it off in short bursts due to the excess smoke that would build up. But now, using his nostrils as exhaust pipes of sorts, he was able to breathe a steady stream of fire for as long as his lungs had air.

Yang watched the spectacle with widened eyes until finally Jaune had to stop and catch his breath.

"Now THAT was awesome!"

Jaune noticed that he wasn't as out of breath after trying the idea that she had suggested. He probably would have never thought about trying such a strange idea either.

"How did you even think of that idea in the first place?"

"Well, when I saw you sneeze and shoot fire out of your nose I thought, hey why not try doing that with smoke instead."

"Huh... Guess having you around really is a good thing after all..."

Jaune suddenly felt an arm wrap around his neck and bring his head down to Yang's level, most likely as an attempted hug.

"Aw thanks, Noodle! I'm glad to see someone appreciates my method of training! Now keep practicing until I tell you to stop."

"Wha-"

Yang suddenly shoved Jaune away and walked backwards, giving him two thumbs up as she did. He groaned a bit in response before he returned to breathing fire.

"I'm starting to see why people don't want to train with you..."

Yang shot him a dirty look before shrugging. "They're just afraid of how fast I get results, that's all!"

"Yeah... negative results..."

"What was that?"

"NOTHING!" Jaune quickly burped up another column of flames in an attempt to cover up what he said.

It felt as if Jaune had spit up enough fire to fill a volcano, and he was still going too. Yang had yet to actually tell him to stop, opting to continue watching him as she did crunches on the floor nearby. Despite the fact that he was getting light headed, and that he was pretty sure whatever organ inside his body generated the gas for his fire was actually on fire itself, he continued to breathe to the best of his ability. By the time Yang had finished her hundred and fiftieth curl, and yes he was able to keep track, she finally sat up and told him to stop. Almost as soon as he was given the signal, he flopped onto the floor and slowly began to wither away. Or at least, that's what it felt like to him anyway.

"Aw don't be such a wimp, Jaune. It can't be that bad."

"You aren't... the dragon... here..."

Yang rolled her eyes a bit before she sat down next to him, giving him a small pat on the head as she did.

"Alright, ya big noodle. How about we take the rest of the time to just talk, huh?"

"Talk? About what?"

"Well, I've been thinking about your two forms. You know how you call your true form light and more flexible? And how you said your bipedal form was stronger and durable?"

"Uh. Yeah I think I recall saying something like that."

"Well, I think we've gotta call em something else. Something shorter and sweeter that just rolls off the tongue, you feel me?"

Jaune scratched his head. Something shorter and sweeter? That might make it easier to call out battle plans in the future, should the need ever arise... "Okay, so what did you have in mind?"

"Well, how about calling your "true" form your Speed form, and you bipedal form you Power form?"

He liked the sound of that. It was simple and efficient. "Yeah, that sounds pretty good."

Yang gave him a smirk before she clapped her hands. "Alright, score another point for Yang! She's been on a roll these past few weeks!"

Jaune blinked a few times. Had it really been that long since they started training? "Uh, Yang? How long has it been since you found out I was a dragon?"

Yang glanced up at the ceiling as she pondered the question. How many weeks HAD it been exactly? She knew it was a few, but not the exact number.

Suddenly, a song began playing from somewhere. Jaune noted that it sounded like the same song that he and Yang had danced to that day at the arcade. Yang reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll, which proved to be the source of the music. She pressed her finger to the touch screen briefly before holding it up to her ear.

"You've got Yang!" She listened to the person speak on the other line for a moment. "Right now? I'm kinda in the middle of something." Jaune noticed that her face turned into a small scowl before she sighed. "Fine fine. I'll be right there."

Yang pulled the scroll away from her ear before tapping the screen again. After she stowed it away in her pocket, she let out a sigh as she turned to Jaune. "Gonna have to take a raincheck on the rest of our conversation. Ice Queen wants me to head to Vale with them for that Vytal Festival junk."

Jaune gave her a sympathetic smile. "I understand. We'll just have to make up for lost time later on, that's all."

Yang elbowed him and flashed a smirk in response. "Aw, you're the best, Jaune."

"Yeah yeah, I bet you tell all the dragons that."

The two of them shared a laugh before they shut down the training room for the day, Jaune shifting back into his human form as he left the room. After going their separate ways, he let out a yawn as he walked towards his dorm. Hopefully he could sneak in a nap before it got too late. Then again, he'd probably be up all night thanks to another nightmare. They were starting to affect his everyday life at this point.

He had to find a way to get some clarity on these strange dreams, or at the very least find a way to understand them more. He couldn't allow them to continue messing with his head, because it would eventually leak into the rest of his life if they did.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

It felt weird writing this chapter. But I wanted to get it out sooner than usual. Look forward to the next chapter on either Thursday or Friday!


	13. The Blame Game

**Author's Notes**

Alright, so here's the big one.

I don't like this chapter that much. I've had an insane amount of writers block for this chapter for weeks, and while I think it's a bit forced, it's necessary to continue on with the story. I've found myself coming back to this chapter multiple times, and I was honestly going to separate it into two chapters by themselves. But just reading through both of them, I sorta just wanted to mash them together into a big single chapter just to get it over with.

So, apologies for this one. But everything else has been coming along just fine, and to make it up to everyone I'll be posting another chapter within the next day or so. Or maybe even tonight if I get around to cleaning it up. I'm also experimenting with a new story format, so please leave some feedback on that. I felt as if the previous chapters all looked more like a list of dialogue than a story, so I've kind of compressed the dialogue in with the rest of the text to make it look more like a book.

* * *

Jaune let out a yawn as he woke up. This time he was proud to say that he wasn't graced by any horrendous nightmares for once this week, so he at least got some decent sleep this time. As he went through his morning routine, he failed to notice the odd stares he was getting from his friends before finally Pyrrha spoke up. "You're looking quite happy this morning, Jaune. Did something happen?"

He gave another brief yawn and stretched a bit before he hopped back onto his bed and began to put on his shoes. "It's more like something didn't happen. For once I didn't get any of those nightmares!" He flashed an oddly proud smile, which turned out to be quite infectious as the rest of his team followed suit. Perhaps maybe Jaune had finally figured something out in his head. At least, he figured something out enough to stop the nightmares from happening. Either way they were happy to have their team leader back to his old self.

"That's wonderful, Jaune! We've all been worried sick over the past few days. After all, you've barely been getting any sleep."

"Yeah and those bags under your eyes have bags of their own!" Jaune stared blankly at Nora for a brief moment before he dipped into the bathroom for a brief moment to look at himself in the mirror, only to see that he did indeed have some pretty nasty bags under his eyes. And yes, they even had bags on them. As he glanced in the mirror, Nora suddenly appeared behind him and startled him. The resulting shock caused him to accidentally knock a few toothbrushes into the sink. He scrambled to pick them up as Nora began rattling on about everyone's plans for the day. "and since we've got all our stuff planned for the day I just HAVE to ask about what our leader is doing! So what are you doing?"

"I uh, I guess I'll see what Yang is up to today." The rest of his team shared a few uneasy glances as Nora left Jaune's side and stood next to Ren's. When Jaune exited the bathroom, he saw the uneasy stares that his friends were giving each other, which then shortly turned to him. Pyrrha was the one who stepped forward, her hand rubbing at her opposite arm nervously. "You've been spending quite a lot of time with Yang these past few weeks, Jaune. We're getting a little worried that you might be forgetting about us."

Jaune stared at the three of them blankly before he felt his lips purse up a bit, before finally he just burst into laughter. His friends turned to each other, this time wondering what exactly about the situation was so funny. Did Jaune's nightmares actually drive him a little bonkers or something? But once Jaune finally manage to compose himself, he began explaining the situation. "I could NEVER forget about you guys! Yang's just been helping me out lately, so I've spent some time with her to show my gratitude. It's nothing to get worked up about, but if you guys really do feel nervous about it then I'll make a promise here and now!" To emphasize this, Jaune placed his right hand over his chest and held up his left hand next to his head. "I promise you guys that my schedule will revolve more around us as a team and a group of friends. Alright?"

While everyone seemed satisfied with the answer, Pyrrha looked a bit more satisfied than the others. It was strange, given the fact that he already trained with her on a regular basis. But maybe it just wasn't the same to her or something like that. Either way, Jaune decided to head over and get Yang for a bit of early training today, so he could get a headstart on spending time with his friends in the afternoon.

Jaune knocked on the door to RWBY's dorm, but he was confused when he didn't get any kind of a response. He knocked on the door once again and waited a few more minutes, but nothing. Then he heard a voice come from behind him.

"Oh... Hey, Jaune..."

Turning around, he saw that Yang was behind him. And she looked... awful was probably the nicest word he could probably say. "Yang? You look... off today. Did something happen?"

She grabbed her arm and rubbed it nervously, her gaze turning away from his. "Uh... Nope! Everything's fine!" He remained unconvinced, folding his arms in defiance as he gave her a stern look. "Yaaang. Come on, I tell you about my problems." Her gaze remained fixated on the floor, in an attempt to avoid eye contact with him.

"It's just... I don't know if I should tell you..."

"Can you at least tell me if it's something I did?" Yang let out an annoyed sigh, why did he always have to blame himself for things? "You didn't do anything, Blake did!" She let out a small gasp when she realized what she had blurted out. Jaune just tilted his head in confusion before asking the obvious question.

"Blake? What did she do?"

She resisted for a moment before letting out a much less annoyed sigh. She already blurted it out, she might as well just tell him a bit more. "She ran away."

His eyes went wide. Blake had run away? Oh man, what the hell could cause someone to physically run away from school? Weiss ran away a lot when he talked to her, but never off campus. "What?! Why? She was fine when I talked to her in the library yesterday... oh man did I say something wrong?"

Again with blaming himself. She thought him unlocking his dragon powers would at least change his attitude a little... and for the most part she was right. But his old personality still seemed to be shining through at the worst possible moment. "You idiot, it had nothing to do with you, it was Weiss!"

"Weiss?"

Yang folded her arms and looked away, a scowl forming on her face. "Yesterday we went to the docks because she wanted to go spy on the competition for this years Vytal Festival." He briefly recalled Blake mentioning them going to the docks the other day when he was at the library. "And?"

"Her and Blake got into a fight about the White Fang."

Jaune combed his brain for any information he might have had on these "white fang" but came up completely empty. "The White Fang?"

"Yeah, apparently Ruby and Weiss think they've been responsible for a lot of break ins around Vale lately." He guessed from the name that they weren't exactly a friendly organization, though he still needed to ask the obvious question. "What's the White Fang?"

Yang looked up at Jaune, completely dumbfounded at how he couldn't know who the White Fang were. Yes, he lived in an isolated village for most of his life, but they still had to keep up to date with what was going on in the world, right? There was no sense getting mad at him for being the same old dense Jaune though. So she just sighed to herself and explained it to him. "The uh... the White Fang is a terrorist organization made of Faunus that want to wipe out humanity."

"Oh... wow..."

She probably could have worded that better, after all she didn't want to sound like Weiss when it came to the subject. But criminals were criminals, despite what they were back before they turned to a life of crime. "Yeah. They used to be a peaceful organization that stood for equality... but... times change, I guess." He nodded in response, he couldn't argue with that. His home was a good example of times NOT changing though. Still, there was more information to be dug up on why a topic like that made Blake run away.

"So then... what happened with Blake?"

Yang went silent again. Something serious must have happened if she refused to talk about it, so he decided that maybe it would be best if he didn't try and pry so hard on the subject. "I guess if you don't want-"

"Can you keep a secret, Jaune?"

He glanced at her with a disgruntled look. She narrowed her eyes in response. "Is that a yes?"

"Remember who you're talking to."

Yang still looked unsure as she began tapping her foot impatiently. "That still doesn't-"

"Oh jeez, Yang. YES!" He was a dragon for god sake! How could he NOT keep a secret if he's been keeping his entire existence a mostly well kept secret?! She really needed to have a little more faith in him. Which is exactly the same thing that she just happened to be thinking. He WAS a dragon after all, if anyone could keep a secret it was probably him. And if not, she could always hold his own secret over his head as a threat. Would she like doing something that despicable? No, but if she had to be she would be.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but only in private." As she said that, her hand reached into her pocket and pulled out a key to their dorm. Sliding it into the lock, she opened the door and beckoned for him to come inside. Once the two of them had stepped inside, Yang shut the door behind her and made sure to lock it tightly before she stepped over to Blake's bed. Her eyes glossed over the neatly tucked in sheets before she turned back to Jaune, who was eagerly awaiting for the answer to his question. "Blake... Blake said something she shouldn't have. Something that she didn't want us to know, but it just came out. She... I think she might have been in the White Fang."

The reaction that Jaune had was one that Yang hadn't been expecting. She had been expecting shock, disgust, anger. Something like that. Instead, Jaune simply crossed his arms before bringing up his left one to his mouth, his teeth seemingly nibbling at his index finger and thumb as his eyes narrowed a bit. "There has to be a good reason for it. You said it yourself, the White Fang used to be for equality, right?" She nodded silently in response, but in reality she wasn't actually too sure of it herself. She never really studied up on the White Fang before they turned all terrorist, so she wasn't sure if that was a true statement or not. But it was what she wanted to believe in, so that's what she was rolling with.

Jaune continued to think for a bit, before he reached a conclusion. "I think we should just keep calm and wait for her to come back. She can't just give up all her dreams and run off just because she's scared, right?" Yang wanted to agree with him, but she wasn't entirely sure if he was right. If she was scared enough, she could just drop everything and run. Possibly out of the kingdom if it came down to it. But there wasn't a whole lot they could really do right now, if they went to anyone it could result in Blake thinking that they had told people everything, and she would think that she would now be in danger of being thrown in jail. While she was lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice that Jaune had placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at that dopey smile and found herself agreeing with him. "Fine, we'll wait a day."

Jaune let out a sigh in relief, at least he stopped Yang from freaking out over this mess. He had no idea how Weiss or Ruby were taking it, but given what Weiss had supposedly said it wouldn't surprise him if she could care less. Or worse, would be one of the ones to report Blake. "You can't tell anyone else about this, got it?" He gave Yang a thumbs up. It was the least he could do given the fact that she had kept his secret safe so far. Deciding that he would leave Yang alone for her to try and relax, Jaune left and decided to see if any of his friends would maybe let him join in on their plans instead.

* * *

A few days had passed since Yang and Jaune had their talk about Blake, and she had still apparently not come back. Team RWY was considerably worse for wear too, Ruby was getting less sleep, Weiss was incredibly frustrated and irritable, and Yang... Jaune had attempted multiple times to talk to her, but as the days progressed she went from just barely talking to completely ignoring him while shooting him nasty glares as she walked by. And it was really starting to make him feel uneasy. Was she mad at him for something? He didn't say a word to his team about anything, and he had tried his best to comfort Ruby. Weiss slammed the door in his face when he tried talking to her, but he could at least say he tried with her too.

"Jaune, I'm sure they're just upset about Blake. It's nothing to be worried about." He glanced over to Pyrrha when he felt her hand place itself on his shoulder. Although her attempts at comforting him did their job as well as his had done for RWY. His head slumped down a bit before he began fiddling around with his fingers a bit. "Yang won't talk to me, Pyrrha. And she gives me these nasty looks whenever she passes by... It's really starting to make me feel bad..." Pyrrha took a moment to think of a response, but as she went to open her mouth, Nora suddenly appeared and forced the two apart.

"Aw Jaune, everyone knows the way to get people to talk is through FORCE! Just threaten to break her legs or something!"

Jaune was about to open his mouth and chastise her for saying something like that... but she actually had a point. Well, not about the breaking the legs thing, but maybe if he tried to force a confrontation with Yang he might actually get some information out of her... It was worth a shot at least, because either way their friendship is in danger. In the middle of Nora's rantings, he took off towards his new destination. Wherever Yang was. As he was walking, he heard Pyrrha call out for him.

"Wait, Jaune, where are you going?!" He stopped in his tracks, turning to face her with a smile on his face. "To go find out what's wrong with Yang." He turned around and made the motion to walk further, but something donned on him as he turned back to Pyrrha and Nora. "I uh, I won't be taking Nora's suggestion though. Sorry, Nora."

Pyrrha exhaled in relief while Nora folded her arms and pouted a bit. Jaune rolled his eyes as he turned and continued on down the hall. It took him awhile to find Yang, but once he did he went into attack mode. Noticing that there was an open closet nearby, Jaune quickly ran ahead of Yang and leaned against the wall in front of her. She let out a loud grunt as she rolled her eyes, not wanting to even pay him any mind as she tried walking past him. The attempt was foiled however, when Jaune stepped in front of her with a serious look on his face.

"Yang, we need to talk."

"I don't want to talk right now, Jaune."

Jaune rolled his eyes before they glanced over at the open closet. Thinking quickly, he pushed her in and shut the door behind him. "Tough. We're talking, now." Yang was shocked over the fact that Jaune of all people just shoved her into a closet and told her that they would be talking whether she wanted to or not. But that didn't distract her for very long.

"I said no thanks, Jaune."

Jaune refused to budge, and just for emphasis his wings suddenly unfurled from his back and spread out behind him. "Yang, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Blake running away has had an impact on you."

She scoffed at him in return. Was she really going to take this from Noodle Boy of all people? The big oblivious screw up that couldn't read people if they were a pop up book. "Really? That's a rich statement coming from Mr. Oblivious." He gave her a confused look before he narrowed his eyes a bit. What was with her sudden change in attitude these past few days? "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Just get out of my way." She attempted to move him out of the way, but he refused to budge. She was silently cursing his draconic strength under her breath. Of all the people that could have been a dragon, it had to be the one person who didn't know how to friggin' go away when they weren't wanted. Jaune could clearly see that she was seething, but he paid it no mind. Instead he continued to try and talk with her. "No, Yang. We need to talk about this. I want to help you."

"I don't NEED help. I'm fine. We're going to search for Blake tomorrow morning."

"And I'll be coming along to help you."

"No, you won't be."

He grasped the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. Why was she being so stubborn about this? She didn't have a choice in the matter. He may not have been good friends with Blake, but he sure as hell wasn't going to just let his friends deal with an issue like this on their own. "She's my friend too, Yang. I'm gonna help. Besides if I-"

"You barely even know her!" Yang's shout briefly echoed in the closet, and while the outburst startled Jaune he refused to back down from her. "So what?! She's still a friend!"

Yang let out a low growl. She was tired of this, he had nothing to do with her or their entire team. He had his own damn team to worry about, yet instead he just continued to dote over them like he was their babysitter? Who in the HELL did he think he was? Just because he was a dragon, did he really think he could manage everyone like he was better than them? "Just shut up and stay out of this! It's none of your business!"

"I'm MAKING it my business! Where the HELL is this coming from?!"

"BECAUSE SHE'S MY PARTNER! AND I BARELY EVEN KNOW WHO SHE IS!" Yang's eyes burst into their fiery red shade as even her hair flared up in anger. It was bright, and to add to that the room was beginning to get hotter. Of course, being a dragon that really didn't bother Jaune that much. He stood there in silence as she stared him down. And soon her eyes began glistening a bit with... tears?

"...Yang..."

He went to place a hand on her shoulder, to at least TRY and comfort her. But the hand was smacked away before Yang backed up further, wrapping her arms around her waist as she slumped down to the ground. "I barely know ANYTHING about her, Jaune! I barely know anything about Weiss! And you wanna know why?!" Her brief time on the ground came to an end as she shot up and jabbed a finger at him accusingly. "Because of you!"

"What?! ME?!"

"Because of your stupid dragon powers, I've been neglecting the people I LIVE with! The people who I'm going to be relying on out in the field! I haven't even spent time with my own sister in two weeks!"

Jaune grit his teeth as he glared at her. "What, so you think you can blame this on ME?!"

"Yes! If it wasn't for our stupid training, I could have gotten to know her better! I could have been a better friend! I could have... I could have..." She slumped to the ground on her knees, her hands covering her face. "I could have stopped her."

"You think you're the only one who's suffering?!"

She looked up at him. She could feel an intense energy coming off of him as he curled his hands into fists. "What you said goes for me, too! The only person I've gotten to know at ALL is Pyrrha, I know NOTHING about Nora or Ren! And our training hasn't exactly been all sunshine and roses you know!"

"Oh please, I've done nothing but help you, how could-"

"Ever since that time you tried to ride on my back, I've been getting nightmares, Yang! Something bad happened to me as a kid, and you're the one who made me remember it!"

Yang blinked a few tears out of her eyes before she hardened her face into a glare. "You think you're special because you've got bad memories and experiences?! I've lived through bad experiences as a kid too! I almost died as a kid! I almost took Ruby with me because of some STUPID-"

"I WATCHED A KID GET TORN APART BY GRIMM, YANG!"

Her mouth fell agape as she felt her anger briefly die down. She said nothing, she couldn't say anything. There was absolutely no sentence she could think of that could help her in this situation. She may have had a life threatening experience, but she survived it with minimal injury. Both mentally and physically. And now Jaune was saying that he experienced something worse... but was it true? Was he just saying it because he felt the need to be better than her yet again? She grit her teeth as she felt her anger welling back up. "You really just don't want to be outclassed, do you Jaune?"

His anger was briefly replaced with a state of intense confusion, before he decided to ask the obvious question. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't think I'm better than anyone! I've NEVER thought that, and I never will! Did you just pull all of this out of your ass, Yang?!"

"You really expect me to believe you just because you say it?!"

"W-what?! Are you trying to say that you think I'm LYING about my memories?!"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying!"

"Go ask my teammates if you don't believe me! I woke up screaming two nights in a row!"

Yang grit her teeth. She could feel her hands curling into fists as she took a step forward. "You're going to be screaming about something if you don't just get out of my way. I'm done talking to you." Jaune glared back at her before realizing that she was actually being serious. He wasn't about to get into a fight with her over something like this, and it was obvious that she had completely deluded herself into thinking that he was to blame for this entire situation. So he simply obliged, making his wings disappear as he opened the door and stepped out of the closet. Yang quickly followed, shooting him a glare that could kill a King Taijitu as she stomped furiously down the hall.

He breathed deeply before letting out an even bigger sigh. If talking to her didn't help, then what exactly could he do to make this up to her? Since it was clear that she wasn't going to forgive him through talking alone, he had to think of a way to... And then it donned on him. He knew exactly what he was going to do. A sly smirk formed on his face as he turned around and began walking in the opposite direction, his left hand curling around his chin as he pondered his idea.

He was going to find Blake for them, and he would do it all without any of them knowing about it.


	14. The Stray and The Fairy Tale

Yang stretched as she and Ruby walked towards the bullhead landing pads. She was certainly eager to commence their search for Blake, as was her sister. But Yang stopped briefly when she noticed a small patch of white already making its way towards the bullhead they were going to. Once they got closer, the two of them saw that Weiss had arrived slightly earlier then they had, and was now impatiently tapping her foot as she watched them walk up to her. Yang raised an eyebrow before placing a hand on her hip. "What are you doing here, Weiss?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to search for my teammate."

"Why would you do that?"

"Yang..." Ruby tugged at her sisters arm in an attempt to get her to lay off a bit, not that she wasn't just as curious as to why Weiss was going with them. She wanted to believe that Weiss was still friends with Blake, but that didn't seem like it was the case given her attitude.

"Because I think she owes me a full explanation before she gets whatever punishment is coming to her."

"Uh, I think you mean that she owes ALL of us an explanation before she comes back home with us."

Ruby could see trouble charging in from a mile away. Acting quickly, she stepped in between the two before extending her arms out to keep them at bay. "Okay, that's enough guys. We're not going to find her if we just argue with each other... right?" She watched as the two of them shared a short glare at her before they directed it at each other. Weiss let out a haughty "Hmph" before she turned to the bullhead, while Yang just let out a low growl as she did the same. Ruby put her arms down and sighed. At least she stopped the argument for now, but how was she going to keep them from arguing on the ride over?

When the three of them told the pilot the situation, he agreed to give them a lift into Vale. Once they had buckled into their respective seats, the engines started running along with the rotary blades and before long they found themselves briefly hovering above the landing pad. "Just need to do a few routine checks before we take off, alright girls?" They each nodded at the pilot before Weiss began rambling on about Blake. Yang quickly tuned her out as she stared out the side door, her eyes lazily scanning the area.

And then she thought about Jaune. Maybe it would have been best for her to ask for his help, but it was too late now. Besides, she really didn't even want it despite the fact that he'd be at least sort of useful. You can call it being spiteful if you want, but she would rather him just go away and not talk to her anymore after causing such a huge mess in the first place.

Her eyes caught sight of something, or rather someone as they continued watching the area. Her eyes darted back to the spot she previously had seen the disturbance, and confirmed that she did indeed see someone. It was Jaune, who was leaning against a piece of the wall near the entrance to the building. Specifically near a piece that jutted out, forming a nice little pocket where nobody could see behind. Her eyes narrowed a bit as he stared directly at her, a sly grin plastered on his face as he did. What exactly was he up to? His grin continued on as he slowly backed up and around the wall before he vanished completely behind it. Yang was still staring in confusion until she briefly saw a flash of fire leak out from behind the wall, followed by a golden blur that rocketed out of from behind it and into the sky. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized what Jaune had just done. And where he was going. And in a moment of unbridled rage, Yang could only shout out one word to express her distasteful opinion on one Jaune Arc at that point in time.

"ASSHOLE!"

Both Ruby and Weiss stared in shock at Yang's outburst before Weiss's face turned a deep shade of crimson, while also simultaneously contorting into a nasty scowl. "YANG XIAO LONG, WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

Jaune let out a laugh as he glanced down at the ocean below him. He could only imagine the reaction that Yang had when she caught him darting off to Vale ahead of them. But for now, he would just enjoy the wind as he soared through the sky. Was he worried about being seen? No, at this height nobody would be able to tell the difference between a dragon and just some yellow bird. No, the harder part would most likely be just being able to land in an area that was out of sight long enough for him to turn back into a human.

But he would worry about that later, for now he needed to focus on finding Blake. Once he got to the city, it was quite easy for him to efficiently scan the streets with his eyes. After that day at the arcade, Jaune had discovered that his senses were much more powerful than those of a normal humans. First he discovered it with his hearing, the arcade being just the start. He remembered his embarrassment one day when he was fumbling with the keys for his dorm room, he heard the muffled complaints of a certain Schnee and her... well, time of the month. Just thinking of that made him shiver as he continued gliding along. It was interesting that his senses as a human were still far above average, but dulled in comparison to him as a dragon. He could only harbor a guess that his semblance didn't change him completely when he shifted between the two species.

As he continued to scan the city, his eyes glossed over a black spec. Even though it was hardly any good evidence, after all how many black haired people lived in Vale alone, he felt a sensation in his gut that was telling him to investigate further. That and his wings were beginning to burn a bit, any kind of a break would be appreciated at this point. His eyes scanned nearby, picking out a particularly empty building rooftop that had a number of raised areas. It would be perfect for him to hide out on if he was careful about it. Swooping down, he quickly made a relatively safe landing on the roof before crawling stealthily over to the roofs lip. Glancing down at the street below, he saw that by some miracle he had actually found Blake.

Jaune briefly changed back into a human and pulled his scroll out of his pocket so he could check the time. "That didn't take very long at all. I think I started look at-" Glancing at the clock, he saw that it had actually taken much longer than he had predicted. "Okay, nevermind. Three hours of flying is pretty long. Guess that's why my wings feel like I set them on fire..."

The pain in his wings wouldn't stop him though. So he shifted back into his speed form and returned to spying. Looking down at Blake, she seemed to be walking alongside some new guy. He was blonde, and... had a tail? It looked like it was a simian tail of some kind, meaning that this new guy must have been some kind of monkey faunus. They seemed to be getting along well enough, but what caught him by surprise is when Blake ducked into the alley next to the building he was on, the monkey guy following her. As soon as they disappeared, he quickly scurried over to the side of the building that was overlooking the alley and turned his ear to it in an attempt to eavesdrop on the two of them.

"The only thing is, I've no idea where that would be." Where what would be? What was so important that was making Blake look for it instead of making up with her friends? Was it evidence of her innocence or something?

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas."

"How huge?"

"Huge. Big Schnee Company freighter."

Jaune's eyes widened as he listened in on the conversation. "Oh god, is Blake going back to her terrorist ways?! ...No, no don't jump to conclusions, Jaune. Just cos she was in the White Fang doesn't mean she was a terrorist... Right? There's gotta be a good explanation for this. Right? There's GOTTA be!" After convincing himself to follow Blake further, he peeked over the lip of the roof... only to see that Blake and this mystery guy were both gone. His head briefly darted back and forth in an attempt to relocate them, before he finally caught a brief glimpse of Blake's hair vanishing behind a building. It looked like they were both on the move, as they had exited the alley and gone into the street. He briefly pondered whether or not it would be better to continue tailing them as a dragon, or if it would be better if he confronted her in an attempt to talk her out of it. The more he pondered it, the more he grew agitated over the fact that he was wasting time.

"Aaagh! This is a hard choice!" He slapped a claw over his mouth, not intending to have blurted it out loud like he did. Finally, he made a decision. Of sorts. Shifting back into his human form, Jaune pulled a coin out of his pocket and flipped it into the air. Heads he would continue on in dragon form, and tails would result in him confronting Blake. He watched the coin do numerous flips in the air as it reached the peak of its toss... before it promptly slammed into a bird that just happened to be flying by.

Jaune watched both the coin and bird it hit fall into the alley, before he brought a hand to his face in embarrassment. "We'll just say it was tails..." He was glad nobody else was around to see that.

After Jaune hopped off the roof and into the alley, he caught up to Blake and the mystery guy before he began quietly following them. Eventually, he remembered that he was supposed to be confronting Blake instead of stalking her, so he did just that. He figured it would be best to act as if he hadn't been looking for her though, so he called out as if it were just a chance meeting. "Hey, Blake! What are you doing here?"

The pair quickly spun around to face him, Blake's face paling up considerably as she did so. "J-Jaune?! What are YOU doing here?"

Jaune thought up a lie. Obviously if he said he was looking for her, he risked scaring her away. "Oh, I was just heading to one of my regular bookstores to see if they had a new issue of X-Ray and Vav." He glanced over at the blonde guy standing beside her, taking note of his tail that was casually swinging from side to side behind him. "Who's uh... who's your friend?"

Before she could even offer an answer, the blonde stepped forward and held out his hand. "Name's Sun. Nice to meet ya! You one of Blake's teammates?" Jaune shook his hand and decided to make a little small talk before he tried to shift the conversation to her team.

"Jaune Arc. And uh, no I'm just one of her friends. And since you're with her, I'm guessing you are too. So uh, how'd you two meet?"

Despite the fact that Blake seemed very reluctant to actually say anything, Sun had absolutely no problem with talking away. "Oh I came in on a ship two days ago, I'm here for the Vytal Festival straight from Vacuo!"

"Vacuo, huh? That's pretty cool."

"Actually it's pretty hot." Jaune caught a brief glimpse of Blake cracking a small smile at the joke before she turned away, blushing. Unfortunately, Jaune was going to be the bringer of bad news in just a few moments. He really didn't want to ruin this nice little conversation, but he really didn't want to just ignore Blake and let her do whatever she was planning on doing.

"So uh, I heard there was a bit of trouble in your dorm yesterday. Is everything okay?" Blake froze up at the question, her eyes darting to Sun's before they turned back to Jaune. He could already harbor a guess that the amount of shock she was experiencing just from the fact that he knew anything about her problem was staggering her a bit.

"I... uh... Y-yeah everything's okay. Why would you think that it wasn't?"

"Well, everyone on your team is really worried about you. Ruby hasn't gotten a good night sleep in days, Yang is beating herself up over it and even Weiss is worried about you." He fibbed about that last part, but it was a fib that she needed to hear. Although the snarl that she accidentally let slip told him that she didn't believe that last part for a second.

"As if she would care. After all I'm just a..." She caught herself before she finished her sentence. Silence lingered in the air for a brief moment before Jaune finished her sentence for her. "...a Faunus?"

Both Sun and Blake turned pale for a moment as they shot each other a glance as if they had been caught red handed. But Jaune had a brief moment of confusion brewing in his own head. How exactly did he know that? He had no real evidence to base it off of outside of the fact that Blake was in the White Fang. Well, no actually he had a decent amount of evidence. She said it herself that she was in the White Fang, she's currently hanging out with a monkey faunus, she's wearing a bow... wait... was her bow hiding something? It always did twitch at odd times, but he just chalked it up to the wind or something.

"How did you know?"

"I uh..."

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" Jaune took a step back, though it didn't do him any good as Blake followed up with a step forward.

"I... Yang told me, alright? She told me about what you said about the White Fang. And I just put the pieces together from there."

Blake folded her arms underneath her chest before she glanced to the floor. A frown formed on her face before she let out a heavy sigh. "I knew they'd all turn on me..."

"No! She only told me because I kept prying on the subject! And I promised her that I'd keep it a secret!" Blake glanced up at him for a brief moment, a small shimmer of hope gleamed in her eyes, though she didn't want to believe in it. Or Jaune for that matter. "And I'll promise you too, but only if you tell me why you ran."

He felt cruel forcing such a choice on Blake, especially given the flash of fear in her eyes once the words came out. But it was a necessary evil in this case. It took her at least three minutes to make her decision, the three of them simply standing there, staring at each other as if the rest of the world didn't exist. Sun eventually placed a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch in the process. But his presence seemed to at least provide some comfort, enough to actually agree to Jaune's terms. "Alright. I'll tell you."

"I ran because I was afraid. Afraid of what they would think of me, what everyone would think of me. I'm a Faunus, and not only that, a terrorist. And worst of all, I didn't even tell them on my own terms. I just ended up shouting it out on accident. I never got the chance to even CONSIDER telling the truth if I wanted to. It was all just... thrown out into the open in a moment of foolishness."

"But why run from your friends? If anyone can understand you, it's them."

"How can you be so sure, Jaune? Look at Weiss! She HATES Faunus! She's probably already gone to the police!"

"She wouldn't do that she-"

"And Ruby... Yang... who knows what they think of me now. They're probably just as disgusted, knowing that I'm a filthy faunus terrorist..."

Both Jaune and Sun looked as if they were about to step in and say something, but Blake ignored them and continued on. "All I wanted was a normal life, I wanted to be treated just like a normal person! ...But people like me don't get to have a normal life..."

Once it looked like she had finished, Jaune took a step forward. He found himself sympathizing with her, after all he was like her. He may not have done anything that could be considered illegal in the past, but he was not normal. He was on a different level than a Faunus though, he was a creature that by all means did not, and should not exist naturally. And as much as it made him sound like he was being all high and mighty, he was not.

"Blake, trust me, I know how you feel..."

Blake's attitude turned even worse as she struck out with a glare. "No you don't! None of you do! And it's insulting that you would even suggest that! You've had every opportunity to make friends and have a real life, Jaune!"

Jaune took a step back at her outburst. "Look, I've had to deal with a lot of discrimination too, but-"

"Discrimination? You don't even know what that word TRULY means. I get that you want to help, but you're a human, Jaune. You've had a cozy life. You'll never understand, but I don't think less of you for not being able to."

Jaune didn't really know what happened, but something inside him briefly snapped. His mind drew a blank as his lips seemingly moved on his own accord, a fire bursting forth from inside of him as he began shouting. "Don't tell me that I don't understand, Blake!"

Both Blake and Sun took a step back, Blake especially being shocked given the fact that she had never seen Jaune angry, ever. She opened her mouth in order to offer a response, but Jaune's yelling began to pick up in intensity. "I've lived my entire life trapped in a village in the middle of nowhere! Ever since I Came to Vale, I've had to live in FEAR because of what I am!"

"Dude, calm down. It's nothing to get worked up about." Sun's attempts to calm Jaune down were met with even more rage, however. It was as if he had thrown a rock at a hornets nest.

"Don't tell me to calm down! You have less of an idea about me than you both have about yourselves! Your fears will eventually go away, Faunus will be accepted one day with certainty! Blake, you'll learn to move on and forget about what you did! But me? ...I'LL CONTINUE TO LIVE IN FEAR FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! TO KNOW THAT I CAN'T CHANGE WHO I AM!"

"What the hell are you even talking ab-"

"FAUNUS DISCRIMINATION IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT I HAVE TO FACE!"

Jaune regained his senses took a step back when he realized what he had said. He had stepped out of line. Majorly so, and he didn't even know why he had done so in the first place. And Blake was completely FURIOUS at his claims. She looked as if she were ready to pull out her weapon and slice him in half. And Sun was looking quite irritated too, for a guy who came off as being super laid back. Blake grit her teeth hard as she took a step forward, a finger jabbing itself in Jaune's direction as she spoke up. "And what exactly ARE you, Jaune? You think just because you're some awkward geek that you can say such a thing?! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE SOME LOSER OF A HUMAN DOESN'T MEAN YOU SUFFER MORE THAN EVERYONE ELSE!"

Jaune found his fists clenching even harder, almost hard enough to draw blood. Loser. That word... he would have used it to describe himself maybe a month ago. But that wasn't him. Not anymore. He was a dragon for god sake, there was no way he could ever be a loser. Not ever again. "I'M NOT SOME LOSER OF A HUMAN, I'M A DRA-" He slapped a hand over his mouth just in time. What had he just done? The words all just came crashing out of his mouth at once. He didn't even mean half of it, it just... it just...

Blake cocked an eyebrow, or at least attempted to since she was glaring so hard that her face was practically stuck like that. "A what?! What could you possibly think you are that gives you a right to say such a horrible thing?!"

"I... I'm..."

His eyes glanced between the two of them, his body began to rattle at the sudden realization that he had just messed up big time. Both Blake and Sun took a step forward, eager to hear what he could possibly call himself to get out of such a situation. And he himself had no idea what he was going to say. He was lost. He had nothing that he could possibly say in this situation outside of the truth that could help him. And he couldn't tell them that. He wasn't ready, not on these terms. He had just ruined his friendship with Yang over this information, he wasn't ready. The words kept ringing out in his head as he took a step back. He had to think of some way to get out of this. So he did the only logical thing that he could think of.

He turned around and ran.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

I really dislike writing Blake's first story arc in any fic, because not only do I just never do it any real justice, I don't really like the arc in itself. But it's alright, I can assure you all that it's almost over soon, and the more interesting stuff will be starting up.


	15. Shipyard Shakedown

"Jaune! Get back here!"

He ignored the shouts coming from Blake, and pushed himself to run as fast as he possibly could. The sounds of footfalls coming from behind him made him assume that either Blake or Sun had chosen to run after him, but the sounds soon died out as he turned and rushed into an alley. In the blink of an eye, he shifted into his dragon form and launched into the air, a golden blur rocketing into the sky the only thing any bystanders actually saw.

Blake and Sun stared in momentary confusion, not sure on what they had just witnessed. All they knew is that Jaune went into the alley, something else came out, and now Jaune was gone.

"Oh my god... I think I just ruined my almost non-existent friendship with Blake..."

Jaune's state of mind was complete confusion. As he flew through the sky back to Beacon, he ran through the events that lead up to this over and over trying to find out where he went wrong. Exploding in anger was probably the first major mistake he made. He also probably threw Yang under the bus a bit with that comment about her telling him about Blake. And essentially blurting out that he wasn't a human was the other major mistake, but he wasn't entirely sure if Blake or Sun had actually picked up on that. He might have gone a little overboard with saying that he suffered more than she did, after all he barely knew that much about Blake as it was. There was quite the list of things he did wrong.

And then there was the more important issue, what were they planning on doing at the docks that involved this "White Fang?" He hadn't really heard a whole lot about them, but he knew they were a criminal organization of some kind based on what Yang said. And that sent all kinds of mixed signals about Blake. He didn't think that Blake would be the kind of person to turn back into a criminal like that, but that Sun guy was completely up in the air on the other hand. Either way he needed to get back to Beacon and call Yang, this was information that she NEEDED more than anyone else. When exactly was he going to get back-

Jaune slammed face first into a hard surface, the rattle of leaves shaking his ears while he fell to the ground. As he fell, he shifted out of his dragon form so that he would at least look like some dork falling out of what he assumed was a tree. And he was regretting that choice, because he hit at least four particularly large branches on the way down before he finally landed face first in the dirt and blacked out.

"...ake up...oron..."

Jaune's eyes snapped open, his vision blurry from having to adjust. He couldn't quite make out the figure of whoever was standing over him, but it was certainly someone he didn't know given their size and the sound of their voice. At least that's what he thought until they spoke a second time and tapped him with their boot. "Get up so I don't have to drag you to the infirmary." His blurry vision soon cleared enough to see that it was none other than Cardin Winchester looming over him.

"C-CARDIN?!" Jaune shouted as he lurched upwards, staring up at the student who had been bullying him only a few weeks prior. "What... what are you doing here?"

Cardin scowled at him briefly before nudging his head towards the tree. "You tell me. You're the idiot who fell out of the tree and knocked himself out cold."

"Oh... well uh, thanks for checking on me to make sure I was still breathing?"

Cardin said nothing, instead opting to let out an annoyed grunt as he walked away, confusing Jaune a little bit. Why did Cardin even bother checking up on him in the first place? But his question would have to wait, because there were more important issues at hand.

Jaune fumbled to take out his scroll, nearly dropping it as he opened it up. He practically punched in Yang's number before holding the scroll up to his ear. Hopefully she would actually pick up the phone when she saw that it was him calling instead of just ignoring it. If not, he would most likely need to text her the information. "Hey there, you've got Yang!"

He sighed in relief. "Yang, thank god! I know where Blake's going, she's-"

"Hello?"

"Uh, yes hi. Blake is going to-"

"HAH! Gotcha! I'm not here right now, so if you could leave a message I'll probably get back to you eventually! Bye!"

Jaune's face twisted into an annoyed scowl before he removed the scroll from its position by his ear, hitting the end call button as he did. Figures that Yang of all people would have a voicemail message like that. So instead he dialed Ruby's number instead, knowing that she would at least answer him. It didn't take long before she picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Ruby! It's Jaune!"

"Oh, hi Jaune. I'd love to talk but I'm really busy right now."

"Ruby, I found Blake!"

There was a brief pause before Ruby began frantically shouting in his ear. "WHAT?! WHERE?! WHEN?! HOW?!"

"That's not important! But I know she's going to the shipyard in downtown Vale tonight! Make sure you tell Yang, okay?"

"Thank you so much Jaune! I owe you big time for this!"

Jaune was about to thank her when she hung up on him. Did either of those two have any kind of manners when it came to talking on the phone? He highly doubted it. He proceeded to stuff his scroll back in his pocket before getting up off of the ground. Now came the hard part for him, because he had to make a choice. Did he go to the shipyard tonight and provide back up? Doing so would risk that he just makes his situation worse. Or does he just rely on his friends and hope they come out okay?

That was a stupid question, of course he was going! They were dealing with a terrorist organization, they were way in over their heads! He was too, but at least he could provide SOME support on the battlefield. Even if they didn't want it, or know about it. He wasn't going to risk having more blood on his hands.

* * *

When night fell, Jaune already found himself in-flight to the shipyard, hoping that everyone managed to stop Blake before she even got there in the first place. But with how stealthy Blake was, he highly doubted that they would be able to catch her in time. Jaune found himself having to squint his eyes as an explosion rang out in the direction of the shipyard, the smoke billowing out from it proving to be a bad sign already.

Jaune circled the shipyard overhead, watching the carnage unfold below. Well, it was carnage for the White Fang. For team RWBY, Blake and Sun, it was a cake walk, which put him at ease. They were all easily cutting a swath through the forces of the criminals, and Blake seemed to be holding her own against some ginger guy with a fancy looking suit and a cane. It looked as if they didn't really need his help after all, so he turned around and began flying back to Beacon. That is, until he caught a glimpse of a particularly large group of White Fang thugs on the other side of the shipyard, charging to where the rest of his friends were.

"That... that's a lot of thugs..." He thought to himself aloud as he continued watching them weave their way through the shipyard, getting closer to his friends. Deep down he knew that they would most likely be able to handle themselves, but did he really want to take a chance on that? He knew he was outnumbered if he took them on solo, but he was a dragon. But he was also an inexperienced dragon. But these were also just lowly thugs in a terrorist organization, surely he could handle them, right? But...

Shaking his head furiously, Jaune finally made the decision to head them off and at the very least buy his friends some time. So he took a dive, flames engulfing his body as he crashed down on the ground in front of the group of thugs in his power form, ready to throw down with anything that stood in his way. The group of White Fang thugs briefly recoiled in fear in front of them, many of them asking confused questions amongst themselves before one of them gathered up the courage to attack. Soon, more of the thugs joined their brave friend in combat. A single sweep of Jaune's tail was all that it took to knock them all off their feet, it was almost too easy. "Why are you guys charging at me when you have guns...?"

Jaune slapped a hand over his face as he watched the thugs glance at each other in confusion, before glancing down at their guns. In a flash, he found himself in the direct line of fire of a storm of bullets, forcing him to duck behind a shipping container. "Way to go Jaune, you just made this several times harder than it should have been..."

He let out a sigh before briefly ducking back out from cover, and directed a blazing storm of fire from his mouth towards the group of thugs. As much as he didn't want to use fire against them, he had made it less of a choice with his stupid little question. Fortunately, the fire did nothing more than cause most of the thugs to trip and fall backwards before it actually reached them.

As some of the group rushed to help their allies up, Jaune saw this as an opportunity to get in another attack. Stretching his wings out wide, he began flapping them in the direction of the criminals, mighty gusts of wind surging out from his wingbeats. This toppled over those who were attempting to pull up their allies, and even knocked over a few more thugs. And now the White Fang criminals were looking entirely unsure of themselves. If they couldn't handle a group of kids, how could they handle some sort of giant mutant lizard? Seeing their fear, he decided to get a bit cocky. Maybe he could end this engagement with some intimidation and send them all running off?

"Yeah, don't mess with me! I'll uh... I'll bite your limbs off! ...Okay that's gross..."

Suddenly a deep, masculine sounding voice rang out from behind him. "That right? Then try it, freak."

Jaune turned around only to have his face be met with the end of a giant battleaxe. He quickly ducked under it, feeling the blade brush up against his scales as it passed overhead. Just a millisecond slower and his head would be gone. Shortly after the attack missed, he felt a boot planted firmly in his gut that sent him flying backwards. He coughed up a bit of dust as he scrambled to his feet, his gaze landing on the person that had attacked him. A particularly large White Fang thug was the source of the blow, the thugs frame being a barrel chested, brutish looking one. Which was offset by the goofy cow tail that swung from side to side as the thug stomped forward. By his guess, this person must have been a cow faunus. And she had a dangerously large battleaxe was swung over her shoulder as she- wait that was a woman? On second glance, Jaune's eyes wandered to the open top she had on, showing that there were indeed a pair of... he really shouldn't be looking at things like that right now. Instead he did what he always did when he was nervous. He let his mouth run.

"Woah, lady. You need to stop smoking those ten packs of cigarettes a day, it's murder on the vocals."

This angered the woman as she charged forward, readying her battleaxe to cleave his skull. "MY BOYFRIEND HAPPENS TO LOVE MY VOICE!"

Rolling out of the way as the axe was brought down, Jaune quickly flipped onto his feet and swung a claw at the woman, who blocked the attack with her left hand while trying to free her axe with her right. Jaune took notice of the fact that his claws had indeed pierced through her aura, if only a little bit. He certainly was stronger in this form, that was for sure. However his brief thoughts were interrupted when he found himself being backhanded by the same hand he had just scratched, knocking him back a few paces. The woman charged to meet him, swinging her axe wildly in an attempt to hit him. But he easily dodged the block and slashed her across the stomach. To follow up with this, he charged forward and slammed into her with his shoulder, sending her back a few steps.

"Boyfriend huh? Bet he's a real charmer." Jaune followed up with a leap into the air, whipping his tail at the thug as he did. But he was surprised when she caught it in one hand without even trying. "Yes, he's really quite a catch!" With brute strength that rivaled his own, she swung him into a nearby cargo container, the force of the impact causing a dragon shaped indent in the structure.

"Not that I need to explain anything to a lizard..." The woman stopped for a brief moment before she shook her head. "Why am I even TALKING to you about this?!"

Jaune pried himself out of the iron container and rushed up to the woman, throwing his claw back as if he were about to scratch her again, which she followed up to block. But instead of scratching, he gave his wings a powerful flap that boosted him off the ground. While in the air, he performed a strong kick with both his legs, striking the thug in her gut the very same way that she had hit him. As the woman flew through the air, Jaune used his tail as a springboard to travel with her, grabbing her head mid-flight. Once he had her head in his grasp, he slammed it into the ground and dragged it along until they both slowed to a stop.

"Man. I am getting AWESOME!" His cheer was interrupted when he was tossed off of the woman, landing on his back briefly before he hopped to his feet. The woman stumbled briefly before she shook her head a bit. Jaune got into another combat stance, ready to continue the fight. Once the thug had regained her senses, she came at him swinging yet again, and in a predictable way. Another horizontal cleave that was easy enough for him to dodge, and easy enough to punish. Jaune scratched the thugs arm as she attempted to recover from the blow, ripping through her aura with relative ease. She was a tough opponent, but only in durability. Her movements were sloppy and had too much weight thrown behind them, meaning that she couldn't offer up any kind of a counter attack.

"...Huh... I guess paying attention in combat class really IS helping me..." He thought to himself as he dodged another blow effortlessly and quickly rolled behind his target, bearing both his claws as he surged forward and raked her back as he ran passed her. This fight was going just fine for him, even the other thugs seemed to be too scared of him to provide-

A scream rang out from behind him, startling him immensely. Turning to see what had happened, Jaune was greeted by the disturbing sight of the thugs tail lying on the ground. Holding a claw to his face, he could see trace amounts of blood dripping from his claws, a sight that nearly made him gag. He had cut off her tail during his last attack.

"Oh... oh my god... I'm so... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"YOU BASTARD!"

She charged him yet again, this time her axe began morphing into something else as she ran. The blades folded in on each other and slid down towards her hands, stopping when they reached the halfway point. The shaft of the weapon expanded in a bit, forming a much fatter looking weapon. The tip of the weapon opened, and a burst of hot lead fired out of the opening. Jaune blocked the shrapnel with his wings, though the action hurt much more than he thought it would. Now he was once again at a disadvantage, after all it's not like he had a shotgun of his own. Glancing behind him, he saw that he was near two shipping containers stacked on top of each other. Using his wings to propel himself, he jumped upwards and landed on the second container, spinning to face the thug as he landed.

Another burst of shrapnel flew past him, and soon he imagined more would follow if he didn't think up something fast.

"Wait a minute, what am I doing? I can breath fire." He glanced down at the thug and before coming to a grim realization. He was too far for his fire to be effective. Sure, it would still reach her, but most of it would dissipate by that time and most likely inflict minimal damage at best, just as it happened before with the group of thugs. There had to be another way...

An explosion rang out from beside him, startling him as he stumbled onto his rear. Looking down, he saw one of the White Fang thugs chucking what he assumed were explosives at him from the ground. "Look, I said I was sorry about the tail thing! Tell your men to stop throwing explosives around like they're baseballs or something!" He watched the thugs continue to throw explosives, despite the fact that they were endangering even themselves at this point. It did give however, him a brilliant idea of his own. Standing up to his full height, Jaune hopped off of the containers and kept himself aloft in the air by flapping his wings. Holding out his right hand, he took a deep breath and exhaled fire into his open palm. Closing his hand tightly, he could feel the heat radiating from it. Jaune's eyes narrowed as he looked down at the group of thugs before briefly spinning around. As he finished his spin, he swung his arm and threw the ball of fire that he had formed in his hand. The fireball streaked across the air before it slammed down on the ground, exploding into a mini inferno while also scattering all the nearby thugs.

"I'm... I'm sorry for this." Jaune sighed to himself as he spit up another fireball and chucked it down below. He watched as the thugs all scattered and panicked before the woman with the battleaxe shotgun managed to garner everyone's attention.

"We aren't getting paid enough to deal with mutant lizards that breath fire! Let's cut our losses while we still can!" The woman yelled as she rallied the remaining thugs to her, before they all began retreating. She stopped for a brief moment and gazed at her tail before she grit her teeth and continued running. "It's not worth my life..." She whispered to herself as she joined up with the rest of her men.

Jaune landed on the ground and stood there, his facial features softening. How could he have done something so horrible as cut off someones tail? He shut his eyes tight and attempted to push the thought out of his head. It was an accident, he hadn't meant to do it. His thoughts were thankfully interrupted when another explosion rang out, alerting him that his friends were still fighting. He stealthily slithered through the maze of shipping containers as he attempted to get closer to his friends.

* * *

As he heard the sound of fighting get closer, he peaked out from behind a few containers to see that Blake was still throwing down with the same ginger guy from before. RWBY and the others were still busy with their own fights, although he could see Yang attempting to cut a path towards Blake. Blake briefly heard her partner call out for her, and turned her head to see where she was. This proved to be a fatal flaw however, because the ginger sucker punched Blake square in the jaw before kicking her away. Jaune was just about to jump into the fray when he heard Yang shout out from the distance.

"BLAKE!"

Glancing down further, both Jaune and the ginger criminal saw Yang explode out of the group of thugs that had tried to stop her, her hair and the rest of her body engulfed in flames. The ginger let out a laugh before he pointed his cane at a nearby shipping container, blasting it with some sort of explosive before running off. The container creaked and moaned before it gave out, the container situated on top of it falling towards Blake's unconscious form. Jaune let out a gasp as he watched Yang trip up and fall, her hand going up into the air in a futile attempt to save her partner.

His eyes darted back to Blake's unconscious form, and for a brief moment, Jaune found himself back in his hometown. Looking down at the girl who would inevitably end up... no, he wouldn't let that happen again. Not when he had the power to prevent it now. Jaune grunted, fire leaking out of the sides of his mouth before he spread his wings and launched himself forward. It looked as if a golden fireball had suddenly appeared and barreled its way across the docks, engulfing Blake as it traveled. The container crashed down, the force of the landing caused Jaune to stumble in mid air. His left wing caught briefly on the ground, forcing him to hug Blake close to him as the two rolled further along before finally Jaune landed flat on his back.

"...JAUNE?!"

He sat up and turned around at the mention of his name, glancing down at his friend who was still trying to get up off the ground. Smiling, he held the unconscious Blake in his arms, who began stirring a bit. "Jaune...?" Blake's eyes began to slowly creep open after she had parroted his name, causing Jaune to briefly panic and hand her over to Yang. "Uh... Excuse me, miss, did you lose this kitty? ...That's what she is, right?"

Yang couldn't even speak, instead opting to cry as she grabbed Blake from his arms and hugged her as tightly as she could. Blake's eyes remained half open as she was smothered in her partners embrace, causing her to call out in confusion. "...Yang...?" Yang hugged her closer in response, before she began informing her friend that everything would be okay, and that she was safe. Blake seemed to accept this before she shut her eyes once again, a look of content spread on her face as she did.

Jaune would have taken the tenderness of the scene in a bit more, but his ears picked up the sounds of rotary blades spinning up. Turning to look behind him, Jaune caught sight of a bullhead taking off from the port. He caught a very brief glimpse of the ginger inside the ship, and he momentarily lost his senses. He had hurt his friends, nearly killed one of them. And now he was laughing at them as he made his escape. Jaune decided that he wouldn't let that happen.

Yang glanced up at Jaune, whose eyes had turned bloodshot. It seemed as if she could see a bit of fire flashing in his eyes as well. His wings spread out wide, and just as she opened her mouth to talk to him he rocketed off the ground, leaving the words lingering on her tongue as she watched him fly away.

"Jaune, wait! I'm... sorry..."

Jaune quickly gained enough speed to reach the bullhead. It's not like they were known for being particularly fast, anyway. He forcefully slammed himself into the side of the vehicle, latching onto it as he did so. With brute strength he didn't even know he had, he ripped off the door to the bullhead and threw it into the ocean.

"What the HELL?! First freaky kids and now god damned mutant flying lizards?! What did I get myself into?!"

Jaune said nothing as he attempted to claw at the ginger, who dodged to the side before pulling out his cane. "Hope you can swim as good as you can fly!" With a grin plastered on his face, the ginger fired off his cane and scored a direct hit on Jaune, the force of the explosion sending him flying out of the bullhead and into the ocean.

His senses came back to him as soon as he felt the cold ocean water embrace him. Using his wings and his legs, he quickly swam to the surface of the water and poked his head out of the water, taking in deep breaths as he looked back towards the dock. Even from this distance, he could see the blaring lights of police cars. Glancing back in the direction of the bullhead, he saw that it was already almost completely out of sight.

He gave consideration to chasing after it, but a dull pain in his now lightly singed chest told him that would be a foolish idea. Letting out a deep sigh, Jaune quickly swam back to shore and shook the water off of his body. Figuring it would be in his best interest to leave without being seen, Jaune spread his wings and took flight into the pitch black sky as he headed back towards Beacon Academy. He may not have gotten the criminal, but at least he was able to save his friends.

* * *

"Jaune, where have you been it's almost midnight!" Almost as soon as he had set foot back in the dorm, he was assaulted with questions by his teammates. Well, mostly Pyrrha and Nora.

Nora pushed Pyrrha out of the way as she got a bit too close for Jaune's comfort. "Were you out on some sort of secret late night mission?! You should have told me!"

Jaune could feel himself starting to sweat nervously, how exactly was he going to talk his way out of this one? "I was just uh... in the library that's all!" The excuse seemed to work for Nora, as she almost immediately lost interest in the conversation when the word "library" was mentioned, but Pyrrha would not be so easily fooled.

"And what exactly were you doing in the library at midnight? When it was closed?" He really hoped she would have just accepted the answer, but she had to make things harder didn't she?

"I uh, I..." A sudden excuse that was perfect donned on him. Lowering his head in shame, he let out a sad sigh. "I forgot to study for Oobleck's test tomorrow... so I snuck in... Please don't tell any of the teachers." And his acting seemed to have paid off, as Pyrrha's expression softened considerably once he told her that.

"Oh, I see. Well, next time you should really remember to study in advance, Jaune. That way you won't have to break school rules. After all, it's not good for a team leader to encourage such behavior."

He gave her a nervous smile and scratched the back of his head. "Heh, thanks, Pyrrha." She seemed to accept his gratitude, as she gave him a smile and a nod before returning to finishing up what he assumed was some late night homework. Jaune flopped onto his bed shortly afterwards, closing his eyes before a sudden realization hit him.

"Oh CRAP I ACTUALLY DID FORGET TO STUDY FOR OOBLECK'S TEST TOMORROW!" Jaune screamed internally, realizing that now it'd be impossible to go to the library and actually study for the test. He had dug himself into a nasty corner this time. Hopefully he would just miraculously remember what he needed to, or at the very least guess the correct answers enough times to get a passing grade.

Could anything else go wrong tonight? He was doubting it.

Back in the middle of downtown Vale, in a small abandoned warehouse, Roman was busy sorting through the list of items that him and his group of WORTHLESS thugs had managed to salvage from their now failed operation. Sighing, Roman rubbed his face briefly before grabbing a cigar from his pocket. Reaching for the lighter in his pocket, an ominous sound reached his ears before he could light his cigar, causing him to freeze in place. The sound of heels clicking against metal rang out in the warehouse.

A sultry voice rang out from above him, sending shivers further up his spine. "You are back early. I assume this means that everything went better than expected?"

Roman gulped nervously as he continued mulling over what happened in his head. He really hoped what he was about to say wouldn't sound crazy, given who he was talking to. But she was by far the Queen of crazy right now. "No, actually it went pretty damn bad. We've got a problem. A big, scaly problem."

There was silence on the line before the voice responded. "Explain the situation, now."

"Okay well, you know that super simple dust job at the docks? Oh wait, no of course you wouldn't you haven't checked in for any reports." He winced as he glanced up at two amber eyes glaring daggers at him. He would need to learn to watch his mouth in the future. "Anyway, that super simple job got crazy as all hell when a bunch of weirdo kids came in and started wrecking the operation."

He paused for a brief moment for the voice to respond, but when he didn't get one he continued on. "And I know what you're thinking 'How did a few children stop heavily armed men and women' well I got news for you, sister. They had some backup from this giant fire spitting lizard with wings!"

More silence. Roman thought for a moment that maybe she finally decided that he had outlived his usefulness, until a sudden response startled him. "What did this creature look like exactly?" Roman let out a sigh before he gave her a full description of the creature. Human frame, golden scales, wings, lizard-like in overall appearance. And as he continued rattling off his description, those haunting eyes narrowed further and further until he finally finished.

There was another bout of silence that threatened to suffocate him before finally the figure began to speak once again. "It seems as if we will be shifting our operation earlier than expected. I need to make contact with an associate of mine beforehand though, in the meantime keep your presence low until then, understood?" Roman nearly dropped the lighter he was holding. A shift in the operation? He was NOT ready for things to move so quickly.

"Now hold on a second you can't just-" The figure stalked off, not bothering to spare him an audience any longer. He could have swore he overheard her whispering something to someone though.

Whatever he had just stumbled upon, he was starting to wish that he hadn't.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Well, here we are. We're finished with the Blake arc.

So allow me to explain some things, with the first and foremost being as to why I decided to involve Jaune in this.  
If it isn't obvious by now, this was meant to be a springboard into multiple things to come. And while I probably could have done said things in a different manner, I felt as if this would be the easiest route to take. And that made me realize that the easiest route isn't always the best one, as this part of the story is absolutely... bad.

And I realize that this arc was handled poorly, as many have pointed out. And I thank you for that feedback and agree with it for the most part, but this was essentially just taking bad medicine as I said before.  
But this arc is over now, and we'll be going back into development between Jaune and Yang, and their relationship as a whole in the coming chapters. And honestly, if these last few chapters are the only real problematic part of the entire story, I'll be incredibly pleased.

And I'd like to give thanks to those who provided feedback on the subject, because I do read all my reviews. As always, I encourage people to leave their feedback on ways that I can improve the story, and I always encourage people to spread it around as well so that more will see and provide their feedback.

Oh, and I'll still be providing a chapter this friday. You'll be getting three chapters in one week! Mostly because I just wanted to get this over with so I could start getting to the chapters that I actually enjoyed writing.


	16. Rekindled Friendship

It had been two days since Blake had safely been returned to Beacon, and everyone had kissed and made up rather nicely too. At least, on her side anyway.

Jaune however, had pretty much been making himself invisible to both her and Blake since that night. Blake was pissed at him, and not just the normal kind of pissed. Oh no, Blake absolutely DESPISED Jaune. Whenever she caught a glimpse of him, her face would contort into a scowl before she made a few audible noises of disgust. And even Yang had to admit that Blake was probably scarier than Goodwitch when she got like that. She looked like a feral animal ready to claw off his face at any moment. And despite how "racist" that made her sound, it was the truth.

And her beef with Jaune... well, she was over it. When she saw Jaune save her partner, she broke down into tears. She wanted to apologize to him right then and there, but he ran from her. As soon as they locked eyes, he just looked so angry and upset before he turned and flew off. Like it was her fault for almost getting her partner killed... and quite frankly, after having some time to think about it, it kinda was. She wasn't wrong when she said that if it wasn't for Jaune's dragon powers distracting her, she would have been able to spend more time with Blake and possibly stop her before all of this had happened.

But she WAS wrong about it being Jaune's fault. She had thought a long time about it, and there were plenty of signs that she needed to maybe slow down and spend time with the rest of her team. Ruby had been begging her to take her into downtown Vale for some time together, and even Weiss eventually began making snide remarks about how much time the blonde brawler had been spending with Jaune. Of course, she was easily able to deflect those remarks into comebacks about the heiress being jealous, and the way her face reddened was hilarious! But that still didn't change the fact that she had screwed up big time, placing all the blame on him when it really wasn't his fault at all.

And now, he wouldn't even look her in the eye anymore. Well, he would, but as soon as he did he turned away nervously and tried to flee the room. And he had gone back to being completely... well for lack of a better word, Jaune-y. When Yang first discovered his secret and started training with him, she noticed that the old Jaune she knew practically vanished into thin air. The new Jaune was much more confident in himself, he really didn't stutter a whole lot and he even cracked some okay jokes every now and again. He was also a lot more assertive too, and she liked it when he got like that.

But after that night at the docks, he was reclusive, he stuttered in his speech and he acted as if he had no idea how to talk to anyone anymore. Even his own teammates picked up on it and asked him what had happened, but he simply laughed awkwardly and waved it off as if it were nothing. Just like he had done with everything else that had happened to him before.

She couldn't even apologize to the guy because he wouldn't give her the chance, and it was really quite infuriating. "Hi Jaune!"

Yang glanced over at the table across the room, and saw that Ruby had taken up the challenge of trying to get Jaune to talk to someone. If anyone was capable of doing it, lord knows it would be Ruby. She was his first friend at Beacon after all, and while she didn't like talking bad about her sister, she certainly was a lot like Jaune in the awkward department. But even she started growing out of it after awhile.

"O-oh hi Ruby... what uh... what's up?"

"You've been avoiding us lately, is something wrong?"

"Uuh... w-well you were sorta... there when me and Blake became mortal enemies..."

Ruby let out an awkward, forced giggle. It was true, when Blake returned to Beacon and saw Jaune the next day she was absolutely furious. She chewed him out in front of everyone, which required further explanation between both teams later on. But they weren't mortal enemies, that was just silly sounding. "Aw come on, Jaune. You're overreacting."

"Ruby, she threw one of her books at my face. You saw it happen."

"...Yeeaah... I did... Well what about Yang? You two haven't talked to each other in a couple days, and I've seen the mean looks she gives you. What happened?"

Jaune's gaze turned to the table in front of him, his head slumping over into his hands in despair. "I ruined my friendship with her, too."

"Pffff. The only way you could ruin your friendship with Yang is if you did something to me! ...Or mess with her hair."

"Yeah well, I ruined it just fine by being myself... And now I can't even work up the nerve to try and apologize."

Ruby's expression softened a bit before she put a hand on his shoulder, shaking him a bit as if to stir him from a nap. "Aw come on, you just need to try harder."

Yang continued to watch their conversation unfold, and it looked as if it was going completely nowhere. That is, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning in her seat, she glanced up at a rather impatient looking Weiss. "What's up, Ice Queen?"

Weiss glanced over to her friend before her gaze redirected itself back to Yang. "Ruby has requested that you follow me."

Yang tilted her head in confusion. "Uh. What?"

Weiss let out a heavy, annoyed sigh in response. Why couldn't anything be easy for her? "I don't know, she's trying to pull something. Another one of her dumb plots that she told me to help her with before she walked over to Arc. Just follow me."

Yang glanced back at her sister, who was still conversing with Jaune. Although she could have swore she saw Ruby turn to her and give her a subtle wink. Well, subtle by Ruby standards, anyway. Yang just shrugged and got out of her seat, following the heiress out of the library. Ten minutes passed before Jaune eventually got tired of conversing with Ruby. "Alright well, it's been fun, Ruby. I'll try to take your advice later, but I don't think it'll work."

Ruby jumped out of her chair in a panic, she couldn't let him leave. "Uuh, w-wait! I forgot to tell you about something!"

"What?"

Ruby panicked further as she sifted through her brain, trying to find a good excuse to get him to follow her. And then she thought of a perfect excuse. "Because... because I finished that dragon book! And uh, I want to give it back to you!" She noticed that he visibly perked up at that, if only a little.

"Sure, where is it?"

"It's uh... back at my room. Let's go get it!"

Before Jaune could object, Ruby grabbed his hand and began dragging him out of the library. "Wait, isn't this the wrong way?"

"It's a shortcut!"

Ruby and Jaune had been walking down the hall for quite some time, idly chatting about how their day went. Jaune noticed that the nearby custodial closet was open, with many of the cleaning supplies dragged out. He had to wager a guess that it must have been spring cleaning for the janitor... which he was just now realizing that he had never seen a single time. Had anybody? He tried picturing a time where he might have seen anyone besides Professor Goodwitch doing some kind of cleaning, but couldn't think of one. Maybe she was the janitor too? His thoughts were interrupted however, when Ruby blurted something out. "Oh. Jaune, your shoe is untied!"

"Huh? Oh, thanks Rub-" Jaune bent down to fix the issue when a sudden realization hit him halfway through the action, his shoe wasn't untied. A sudden rush of dull pain shot through his rear when he found himself being knocked forward, the source of the attack being from Ruby's boot.

Jaune found himself tumbling into the custodial closet before slamming into what he assumed was another person. And from the soft, warm sensation he was now feeling around his head, he could only assume that he had been pushed into a rather embarrassing spot located around a woman's chest region given the soft roundness his head was resting on. Pulling himself backwards, his vision readjusted itself enough to see that he had been pushed right into Yang's open arms.

"Easy there, tiger. You've gotta take me out on a couple dates first before you go sticking your nose in those kinda places!"

Jaune's eyes widened, while his first response was to turn and run. At least, that was what he wanted to do, but he found the door to the closet slamming shut as he approached it. As he collided with said door, his hands responded by slamming against it in a futile attempt to get it to open. "RUBY LET ME OUT!"

"Nope!"

"This isn't funny let me out!"

"I told you that I owed you one, so this is me paying you back!"

"I thought that meant you were going to HELP me at one point!"

"Jaune..."

He froze up when he heard Yang call his name, the hairs on his back standing on end. He knew what was coming next, and he could only pray that it wouldn't be very painful. So he slowly turned, deciding to accept his fate rather than try and fight a battle that he knew he wouldn't win. Shutting his eyes, he let out a sigh once he had fully finished turning around. "Alright, fine. Just, make it quick."

He waited for a moment, expecting a fist to fly into his face for the way he had acted. But something completely different happened. He felt warmth wrap around him again, his head being pulled down into the spot it had previously been, no doubt on purpose. Opening his eyes, he glanced up to see that Yang had hugged him instead of taking the more violent route he had expected. Or this could still be the violent route, only with strangling and suffocation. But neither of those things came to fruition. "Jaune, just shut up for a second, okay?"

He could only oblige in her request, the two of them just standing in that position for what felt like forever. He would be lying to himself if he said he wouldn't want to stay like this for a long time, perhaps even forever if given the chance. There was just a strange kind of warmth to Yang that he hadn't felt before when hugging others, and it made him a bit curious as to where it was coming from. Was it because of her semblance? Or was it a different reason entirely?

Jaune sighed a bit in disappointment when Yang finally broke the hug off and stood him up straight in front of her. Their gaze met shortly afterwards, the two staring into each others eyes before Yang finally decided to speak up. "I'm sorry, Jaune."

"...Huh?"

Yang's left arm vanished behind her shoulder, her left hand grabbing onto her right arm from behind as she took a step back, her gaze falling to the floor. "Listen, I was wrong about what I said. It wasn't your fault that Blake ran off. It wasn't anybody's, really. Well okay, maybe it was Weiss's fault." She chuckled sadly at her remark before she lifted her head to look at him again. "It's true that you distracted me from the rest of my team... but it was completely my fault for letting that happen. I should have had more self control, I should have been able to know when to take a break and hang out with my team. With my sister."

"It was also my fault too, I mean I could have said something-" A hand found itself placed over Jaune's mouth, effectively muting him.

"I said shut up, I'm not done yet." Jaune nodded briefly before she removed her hand from his mouth, before she moved behind him towards the door. "RUBY! COVER YOURS EARS!"

A muffled "What?" came through the other end of the door.

"I know you're eavesdropping! Cover those ears up, this is private!" Yang waited for a brief moment before calling out again. "Are they covered?"

There was no response, which made Yang assume that Ruby had covered her ears. She turned back to Jaune, continuing her apology as she did. "And even after I yelled at you, you still wanted to help. You flew into Vale as a dragon, something that could have gotten your stupid scaly butt caught. Then you found Blake and... well... you found her and found out where she was going. And even after I refused to pick up, you called Ruby and told her about where Blake was going. And on top of all that, you showed up to help us at the shipyard. You had no real reason to, but you did it just because you weren't going to let a fight ruin our friendship and risk us getting hurt. You saved Blake's life."

Jaune lowered his head a bit, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. Yang tilted her head in confusion. What exactly was so funny about her apology? "I'm not all innocent, Yang. I gotta admit... I didn't find Blake because I was worried about her." His head shot back up, hands positioning themselves in front of his chest in his own defense. "Uh wait no, I was worried about her but..." He trailed off into silence.

"But?"

"Blake wasn't my main concern. You were." Yang blinked a few times, unsure of what he meant by her being his main concern. What did she have to do with Blake? "I went looking for Blake because I knew that if I found her and brought her back, you would be thankful. You would start talking to me again. I thought that if I found Blake, we could be friends again. I didn't want to lose you because of something that wasn't even under our control."

Yang took a moment to blink a few more times. He did all of it for her? "You're the closest friend I've had since coming to Beacon, Yang. Even if it was a friendship that started because you found out I was "cool" with my dragon powers, it's still a friendship. And the thought of losing you... it scared me."

Oh no. He wasn't... he was, wasn't he? That is not what she wanted to happen, she didn't start hanging out with him for this. But then again, this is the same guy who fell head over heels for Weiss just by looking at her. How could she have been so blind as to not see the dangers of becoming closer friends with Jaune? He was desperate to latch on to any woman who would spare him the time of day... except for Pyrrha... and Ruby. Ruby was most likely because of the age gap, despite it being such a small one. And Pyrrha... maybe the perfect gladiator wasn't so perfect after all? But... she would be lying to herself if she said that it wasn't tempting to give him a shot. After all, he was a dragon. That had to count for something downstairs... no wait she wasn't like that. She didn't want men for just that, they had to be someone she could actually enjoy being around. Like Jaune... "Shit."

Jaune cocked an eyebrow at the swear. "Did I say something wrong?"

She snapped to attention and placed her hands in front of her this time. "No! No uh, it's just... I didn't expect that to be the reason, that's all. Took me by surprise."

"Yeah... it's pretty rotten of me to do... sorry..." He rubbed the back of his head before leaning against the wall by the door, his posture slumping a bit. "And that's not even the worst of it. If I had to do this all over again, I'd do it the same way. I'm willing to sacrifice my friendship with Blake, just to keep our relationship together. I'm awful."

Their relationship? They didn't HAVE a relationship outside of friendship! She didn't WANT a relationship with him outside of being just friends... right? Right, yes. Maybe. But still... the fact that he's willing to sacrifice so much for her... "I dunno, I think that's pretty damn flattering. That you're willing to give up a friendship with someone else just for me. You probably shouldn't, but it's still flattering."

"I don't think I have a choice. Blake sorta threw one of her books at my face when I tried to apologize..." Finally! A shift in conversation so she wouldn't have to think about her uncomfortable thoughts!

"Yeah, I think that should be what we work on next. Why don't we get out of this closet and do some brainstorming on how to fix your broken friendship, huh Noodle Boy?" As Yang went to reach for the door, a hand ended up meeting her's at the doorknob. Looking over at Jaune, his face was adorned with a light blush.

"Uh, actually Yang... I think I'd like for us to have that talk we were supposed to have about each other a week ago. If that's okay with you..."

Damnit.

Yang put on a fake, for once, smile before she turned the door knob. "Whatever you say!"

When the door opened, the pair found themselves staring at Ruby, who presently had her back turned to them with both her index fingers jammed into separate ears. Yang walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, giving the signal that she could stop. Ruby unplugged her fingers from her ears before turning to the duo, a smile spreading across her face as she looked at both of them. "Did it work?"

Yang responded with a thumbs up, before giving her sister a pat on the shoulder. "Couldn't have done it without ya, Rubes. Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks Ruby. I think I might still owe you after this..."

Ruby rolled her eyes at her friend before an idea hit her upside the head. "Aaah, don't be dumb, Jaune! ...Actually wait no, be dumb. Because then you can get me some cookies as a reward!"

Yang rolled her eyes and shook her head while Jaune simply let out a short laugh. Yang had decided that she had enough of the conversation at hand, and began to wander off on her own, warranting a reaction from both Ruby and Yang. "Wait, where are you going? We have to clean this up!"

Yang waved a hand up in the air as she walked away. "Aaaah don't worry about it sis. That's what the Janitor is for, remember?" Jaune was inclined to agree with Yang as he decided to catch up to her and walk at her side, leaving Ruby in the dust.

As the leader of team RWBY stood and watched her sister and her friend walk away together, her eyes slowly widened. She had done something bad, very bad.

She lied to Yang. She never actually covered her ears, she had eavesdropped on the whole conversation.

Jaune was... a dragon? What did Yang mean by that? Did she mean that... literally? And not only that, Jaune was totally crushing on her. Even if neither of them realized it, she did. People always thought she was naive when it came to those things, but even she knew how some of that stuff worked. It was just super gross, that's all. But the bigger and more important topic was in fact, WHETHER OR NOT JAUNE WAS AN ACTUAL REAL LIFE DRAGON.

And more importantly, why were they hiding it from everyone if he was? Maybe he had a good reason, but not a good enough reason to hide it from her!

But first she had to find out if it was actually true. Which meant it was time for a Super Stealth Mission.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

We're finally back on track! Sorry to say, but we're going back to the old schedule now that we are. Every four days, that is.  
Man am I glad as ever to be writing stuff not relating to Blake again.  
Some people do her well, I am not one of those people.


	17. Getting to know You

Ruby peered around the corner and watched as Yang walked into the training room with Jaune. Today would mark the beginning of her stealth operation.

She had successfully followed them without being seen today, which was a miracle in itself since Weiss wasn't trying to get her to study during their free period. Seriously, who actually studies during study hall? And Blake could care less about anything Jaune related, so she didn't even have to provide an excuse for that. But now she faced an even bigger problem. She had to actually get into the room with them unseen and then hide.

...Which would be possible if she had made sure to hide in the room before they got to it. Ruby watched as they entered said room and shut the door, locking it so that nobody would be able to sneak in on them. And Ruby was highly doubting that she could eavesdrop again, since the training room used thick metal doors and walls instead of the wooden one that a janitor closet had. And unfortunately, her theory was confirmed when she held an ear up to the door and could hear absolutely nothing.

"Dang it."

She would have to try again another day.

Jaune took a seat in the middle of the training room, crossing his legs as he did so. Yang stepped in front of him, confused as to what he was doing. "Are we doing some meditation or something? I'm not really into that."

"No, we're going to talk. Just you and me, no fighting, no dragons." Jaune point to the ground in front of him, a sign that he wanted Yang to sit in front of him. She obliged, sitting in the same position as him. They sat there in silence for a minute before Jaune finally got the nerve to talk first.

"So uh, I guess I'll start?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna be honest with ya, I'd much rather hear about how a dragon grows up than talk about how I did."

Jaune chuckled to himself before he began talking. "Alright well, prepare to be disappointed because Dragons do pretty much nothing special when we grow up. We grow a bit, go to school, grow some more, then get jobs. Same as humans do. But unlike most human societies, the people were very close in our town, despite the fact that it was segregated."

"Your town was segregated?"

"It was more of a defensive segregation. The stronger dragon clans were all put on the outer ring of the town, that way the weak could move towards the center whenever Grimm attacked. It was the easiest way to form a protective barrier around those who couldn't defend themselves." Jaune took a moment to draw a circle on the floor with his finger, before drawing a smaller circle inside the larger one to show an example of how the village was laid out. "I lived along one of the outer sections, since my clan is one of the strongest."

Yang smirked at the prospect of Jaune being one of the strongest kinds of dragon. "One of the strongest huh? You sure are proving that theory right."

"Haha, funny. But anyway, most of my early life was the same as any kids. Up until I think I was around ten maybe? That's when I decided I wanted to be a warrior like the other clansmen. My sisters told me they knew I was heading down that path from the beginning, since I apparently liked to chase squirrels around the yard when I was a hatchling."

Yang briefly pictured a young dragon scurrying around a yard, attempting to get his mouth on whatever small critter he could find. It made her giggle a bit, earning a blush from Jaune.

"My parents weren't happy about my choice. But they reluctantly agreed to at least let me talk to one of the elders about it. And that was when I met the elder of our section of the village, Reus."

Jaune's eyes lit up when he mentioned the elders name, as if a myriad of memories rushed up to the surface of his mind. "Reus... he was awesome. He understood my parents concerns, and instead of just throwing me into physical training he decided to just talk with me about it so I wouldn't worry them. He would also occasionally show me how moves were done, but for the most part he was just someone I could talk to outside of my family." His smile began to fade as he continued with his story.

"But... after awhile, my parents started to get even more nervous about the idea of me being a warrior, and they finally decided that I should stop trying. Of course, I refused to just drop my dream. But when they started punishing me for trying to go out and talk with Reus normally, I stopped for awhile. At least, until one of my sisters suggested that I should start sneaking out at night if I really wanted to follow my dream. So, that's what I did. And Reus was even understanding when I told him about it, even though he still disapproved. But I still couldn't figure out why my parents were so against me being a warrior."

"And then... I figured it out." Jaune reached towards the back of his neck with a hand, rubbing at it anxiously. "Listen, Yang... this is something I've only recently put together but... through all those nightmares I had gotten, I managed to figure out a lot about myself that my mind had blocked."

"You mean those nightmares were real?" Jaune cocked an eyebrow as he stared at Yang, causing her to laugh nervously. "Sorry. I really did think you were making that stuff up. So uh, as long as it's okay with you, can you tell me about what happened?"

Jaune stared into her eyes for what seemed like forever. He was going to tell her, which confused him greatly as to why he was so open with her. He wouldn't even tell his own team about it, even though he could easily leave out the part about him being a dragon. But with Yang, he felt like he could trust her. That she wouldn't judge him, no matter what he told her about himself. She was one of the only friends he had that wouldn't even try to understand him, yet still managed to do so anyway while comforting him.

"Okay. Well, it all started one night when I was talking to Reus after sneaking out of the house. It was a normal night, up until we heard the sound of the warning horns stationed around the village. When those horns were blown, that meant that Grimm were attacking the village. So Reus sent me home, and went to deal with the problem. Well, it turns out that it was a bigger problem then they thought. When I was trying to make my way home, the streets were flooded with Grimm. And the skies were filled with Nevermore, so flying was out."

"So if you couldn't fly, what happened?"

"Well, I had to try and make it on foot. And that didn't work well, because I got forced into an alley to hide from the Grimm. I ran out of the alley when a bunch of adults passed by, thinking that I could group up with them and be safe... but..." Jaune paused for a moment before shutting his eyes, his hand instinctively going to the side of his head to ease some of the headaches he still got when thinking about these awful memories. "...But an explosion rang out on the street, wood and rubble blocking off the route. And a pack of Karalis appeared out of the explosion. So I broke off and ran into another alley, and..."

He paused again. Yang noticed that his face was beginning to show signs of squinting, most likely in pain.

"Are... you gonna be okay?"

"...Yeah... I'm not even at the worst part yet... So after I broke off into the alley, I could... hear the adults screaming behind me." Yang put a hand up to her mouth. But little did she know that he was right when he said that he hadn't gotten to the worst part.

"You can stop if you don't feel comfortable with talking about it, dude."

He ignored her, continuing to talk as if she hadn't said anything. "And then... I heard screaming coming from in front of me. When I got out of the alley, I saw a little dragon girl being cornered by another Karalis. I was scared, and I wanted to run. But something deep down made me help, I couldn't just leave an innocent to be killed after all, not if I wanted to be a real warrior. So I charged right at the Karalis. I jumped onto its back, and did the only thing I could think of. I bit down hard on the back of its neck and pulled, ripping out its throat in the process."

"Wow... so you were a big hero, huh?"

"...Let me finish, Yang." She frowned a bit. That couldn't be good.

"After I saved the girl, I told her to follow me. We got maybe two steps forward before another group of Karalis attacked us. I was able to fight them off, at least for a little bit. And then the ground started shaking. Before I even knew what was going on, I felt daggers plunge themselves into my body as I was lifted into the air. Turns out, I was snapped up by a Tyrant Karalis." Jaune rubbed his head as it began throbbing. He may have passed the point of having nightmares, but the memories still hurt.

"And... I watched as the girl I tried to save..." Yang could already tell where this story was going, as she instinctively scooted forward a bit, and went to put a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I watched as the Karalis ripped her apart."

She noticed that as he finished his story, he began to shake. His head hung low, hiding any emotion that he might have been expressing. But just from his body language, she could tell he was upset.

"Jaune... I'm... I don't really know what to say... I mean, I guess I can't really say anything except for the fact that I'm here if you-"

Jaune pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. It caught her by surprise, but that was only until he began sobbing into her shoulder. Once she heard his sobs, her arms wrapped around him and squeezed as tightly as possible out of reflex. Out of all her years taking care of Ruby, it was a reflex that was honed to perfection.

"I... I'm sorry, Yang... I-I've j-just never been able t-t-to talk to anyone about this. You can't possibly... know how it feels to not be able to talk to your team about something like this." She quietly hushed him before rubbing his back. She could never know that feeling, but there was someone on her team that could. If only she wasn't harboring such a grudge against him... The two of them stayed like that for quite awhile, each of their thoughts flowing into each others.

"It's alright, Jaune. You sound like you've had this pent up for a long time, so just let it all out."

Jaune felt so relieved. Relieved that he was able to share his burdens with someone, and have that person comfort him. He was also amazed by the fact that Yang had comforted him the way she did. He expected her to just laugh it off, or tease him about how he was crying. Even when he reached out and grabbed her, she didn't squirm or try to back off. Instead she returned the hug, tenfold. Again, Jaune was feeling a warmth inside of him that had begun showing itself again after the two of them made up. Again, he wanted to stay like this forever. Just him and Yang, hugging each other with such tenderness that it made it feel as if he were on cloud nine. He had never had these thoughts about anyone before, not even Weiss. What exactly was happening to him? Why did he feel such warmth whenever he was held by Yang? Why was he always so happy to see her every day? Was he...?

Was he falling in love with Yang?

Could he even fall in love with Yang? If Weiss was always considered out of his league, then where was Yang? Somewhere in the stratosphere? Yang's beauty surpassed even Weiss, both outside and in. Yang was radiant, like the sun, whenever she was around. Her smile could light up the darkest room, and she always seemed to know just what to say. Even if that meant teasing you a bit, she never meant anything by it outside of trying to cheer you up, or have a little fun. And she was strong, stronger than anyone he had ever known, with the exception of Pyrrha. And even then, Jaune could only wonder who was stronger of the two. How could he ever hope to even begin to deserve someone like Yang?

All his thoughts came crashing to a halt however when Yang released her grip on him. He had stopped crying, which most likely meant that Yang had gotten uncomfortable with the hug. He straightened himself out before scooting back a bit more before deciding to continue his story.

"After I watched... that... I blacked out. I woke up a few days later in the hospital, apparently being saved by another adult. I was fine, if I hadn't been saved when I was I could have possibly been crippled though. Luckily, I just made it out with a few scars on me back."

Yang's eyes widened at the mention of scars on his back. Was that the reason why he bucked her off so violently that day? "I've never seen any scars on you though, where are they?"

"My scales covered them up when they grew back. And after that, my parents forbid me from ever seeing Reus again. They also told me that I was to never even THINK about practicing any form of physical combat ever again. And honestly, I think I would have listened to them if they hadn't said something... horrible."

Yang cocked an eyebrow questioningly. What exactly could his parents have said to make him so defiant?

"They told me that if I were ever in that situation again, to just leave whoever was in trouble to their own fate."

"Oh... Uh, wow..."

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I know they're my parents, that they wanted to keep me safe, but putting my life before all others? There was no way I would ever do something like that. But... despite my defiance, I still had to pretend that I had given up. I basically bottled my dream away, keeping it safe inside me for the day that I was actually ready to become the huntsman that I've always dreamed of being."

"Why DID you become a huntsman? I know you said you were forced to come to Vale... but why a huntsman? You say it was your choice to be a huntsman, not the clans, right?" It was a legitimate question. If this is how he reacted to the death caused by Grimm, how could he ever hope to stay mentally sane as a huntsman?

"Right, when the time came for me to be sent out, Reus suggested that I pursue my dream of becoming a huntsman like I always wanted. And as for why? ...There are a few reasons." He let out a sigh. Reus had been more supportive then his parents ever were, and it bothered him... "The first was because I wanted the power to stop what I saw from ever happening in front of me again. Simple enough, I want to be a hero. But unlike Ruby, I don't plan on traveling the world trying to save everyone. As much as I respect what she dreams of doing, it's just... not feasible." Yang nodded in agreement. She hoped that Ruby would eventually grow out of that goal in her life. Jaune was right, you can't save everyone no matter how hard you try.

"The second reason is because I wanted control over my own life. My parents had been so controlling, and when I was rescued from the Tyrant Karalis and nearly crippled, they became even more controlling. They even forbid me from seeing Reus ever again, blaming him for what happened to me. I was so sick and tired of being told what I could and couldn't do, and I knew that once I became a warrior, a huntsman, whatever... That I would have total control of my own life. I won't let my parents fears shackle me down and think that I'm some little delicate flower that can't even protect himself, let alone others."

"I understand the freedom part, but you know that being a huntsman isn't all what it's cracked up to be, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Being a huntsman can be a dark business, and sometimes in order to do what's truly right you have to do things that might hurt the people you're trying to protect. But if it means I can make a difference in the world, to make it even the slightest bit of a better place, I'll do it. I don't have to be the radiant, beloved hero that Ruby wants to be. Only when my morals become questionable is when I'll ever think that I've gone too far."

Yang put a hand up to her chin. She didn't think that Jaune of all people would have such a mature outlook on his dreams and aspirations. That was something that gave her more respect for him. Not that she didn't have any to begin with, she just had some more now. She stared at him for quite some time, pondering about what kind of a huntsman would be. She was snapped back into reality by the blush adorning his face as he tried to get her to talk.

"So uh, what about you?"

Yang laughed softly in response to the question, looking down at the floor for a brief moment as she did. "Yeah, what about me... it's not gonna top what you've been through, that's for sure."

"Well, let's not make it a contest or anything. Cos when you say it like that, it sounds like we'd both lose."

Both of them shared a small laugh before Yang sighed. "Alright, how much do you know about me and Ruby's parents?"

"Nothing at all."

"Okay, well... Me and Ruby have a weird family. We both have two separate moms, but the same dad."

Jaune blinked a few times before scratching his head. "Uh, wow. Guess I know where you get all your charm from, then."

Yang shot him a knowing smirk in response. "You know it... But, I never got to know my mother. So for all I know, that charm could be from her."

"Nah, that's definitely where your good looks came from."

Yang's smirk only got larger before she reached a hand out and pushed Jaune a bit. "Look at you! When did you become an actual lady killer?"

"Heh, well maybe it has something to do with me being a dragon? According to those Fairy Tales, kidnapping ladies is what we were best at."

"Yeah yeah, sure. But let's get on with the important topic, me."

Jaune briefly rolled his eyes, staying silent so she could continue with her story.

"So, listen. When it comes to my family, all I've got are Ruby and my dad. My mom left us some time after I was born."

Jaune's expression softened. Yang's mother abandoned her? What kind of parent would just ditch their kid like that?

"My dad was apparently really beat up over it, I mean who wouldn't be when your wife just leaves without saying a word? But, Ruby's mom, Summer, was there to comfort him. And I guess things just went from there... And then Ruby was born... I just wish I was old enough to at least remember SOMETHING about my mom before she left..."

"But, Summer. She was like a super mom, slayer of monsters and baker of cookies. She treated me like I was her own daughter, even though I wasn't even related to her." She paused for a moment, her face softened further as she continued to stare at the ground. "And then she left for a mission one day and... never came back. That was what broke my dad, I think. Because he just shut down after that."

Yang looked up at Jaune, staring into his eyes. "Do you know what it's like to live with a dad who's just a shell of himself? I had to take care of myself, and I had to take care of Ruby. It was a hard time in my life. I... I did everything around the house. The cooking, the cleaning, laundry, you name it. Our Uncle Qrow would occasionally come by to help out, but he had a life of his own to live. So for the most part I worked myself to the bone keeping that house up and running. But at the end of the day it was all worth it just to see my little sister smile..." She sighed to herself before breaking eye contact, her hands going behind her head momentarily to grab her locks. She brought them to her front before she began idly running her hands through her hair.

"Honestly. I don't think I see Ruby as a little sister anymore. I think I see her as a daughter now more than anything. It's weird, but I think it's because I basically am her mom, or I guess was is a better word. I took care of her for so long... I was always there for her whenever she needed me... So if you ever wanted to know why I'm so protective of her, well... there ya go."

"So... you had two moms and both are just, gone? Don't you ever wonder what happened to your mom? The one who had you?"

"Yeah, and you just found out the other reason why I became a huntress. When people ask me why I want to be a huntress, I tell them it's because I want to see the world. That's only half true. And you're lucky, Noodle Boy, cos I don't tell people this normally. The bigger reason I became a huntress... is because I want to find her and ask her why she did what she did. Why she left me."

Yang pushed her hair back behind her, a look of unease filling her face. "I tried finding out myself one day when I was younger, I got a good lead on to where she might've been... But I did something so stupid, that it almost got me and Ruby killed. That was when I realized that I had to be stronger. I had to be a huntress if I wanted to find her on my own."

Jaune's hands both interlocked as he rested his chin on them, taking in everything that Yang had said. "What did you do that almost got you and Ruby killed?"

Yang bit her bottom lip as her eyes shifted around. "I'd... really rather not talk about it, if that's okay with you. I know that's kind of unfair, because you told me everything about you but-"

Jaune held up a hand as a way of silencing her. "Hey, it's no problem. I totally understand. To be honest, I really didn't feel super comfortable with what I said either. But my mouth just kept running and running, and I don't regret it now either. Since I have such an amazing friend who comforted me when I needed it."

Yang gave him a big smile before standing up. "Well, I think we've both said enough for one day."

Jaune agreed with her, getting up off the floor before following her to the rooms exit. Unfortunately, their training time had been taken up by talking instead. But neither of them saw that as a bad thing, considering the fact that they learned so much from each other.

"Well, I'd say today was pretty successful, wouldn't you Noodle Boy?"

"Yeah. Lemme know if you ever want to just talk again, I could talk to you for hours."

Yang's smile almost immediately vanished, being replaced with just a blank look on her face as the two of them blushed a bit. "Uh, sure thing."

Upon parting ways, Yang began panic walking back to her dorm. There was a lot that she had to go over in her head about Jaune.

Quite a lot indeed.


	18. Putting it my way but nicely

Yang was facing a dilemma. A deep, internal struggle within her own mind. It was a vicious battlefield, two sides fighting it out for supremacy and dominion over her thoughts, yet neither side could seem to gain the momentum it needed to deal a winning blow. What was this battle, and why was it a raging inferno of fear, anger, confusion, lust, happiness, love and etc? Because it was a battle for whether or not she had real feelings for one Jaune Arc.

And she really needed to stop sneaking peeks at Blake's smut, because it was starting to make her melodramatic. She couldn't help it though, those books had some great stuff in them. She didn't read books like that often, but Blake's were certainly some top tier stuff. And she was distracting herself from the real issue, yet again.

The real issue was Jaune and why she was suddenly starting to have deeper feelings for him. She had tried to ignore it at first, but the day at the arcade, the day on the cliff, his rescuing of Blake and now him opening up to her over his trauma... She was totally falling for the geek.

There were certainly a lot of pros and cons when it came to that. After all, he certainly wasn't bad looking by any means. In fact, since their training had started his human side had become rather toned, and she would be lying if she didn't enjoy looking at him when he was shirtless. But, this was JAUNE she was looking and thinking about. The awkward, bumbling noodle that barely even knew how to hold a weapon or use aura... or talk to anyone when he came to Beacon. It was true that he had changed quite a lot since they started training together, but if something ever went wrong he would just revert back to that state she and so many others couldn't stand. And then there was the whole other issue of him not actually being a human. What exactly would her relationship be like with a dragon, provided it even got that far?

Would her children be some sort of dragon faunus? Because that was an idea that... actually sounded pretty badass.

But what was it about Jaune that she actually liked? Well, he could be funny. A good sense of humor was something that anyone who would want to date her would need. You need to be assertive and manly... when he's a dragon he's got that more than covered. When he's a human... he's okay? At best? He gets along with Ruby, which is a pretty big thing for her. And he's willing to do anything for his friends, even if they don't want his help. Saving Blake was a perfect example of that, regardless of who he actually did it for. He's definitely fun to tease, especially when he turns that adorable shade of pink when embarrassed. Him being a dragon is still pretty awesome.

All in all, taking dragon Jaune and normal Jaune into consideration as he is now she'd consider him a solid... seven in terms of his pros. That was suitable for her tastes, she could deal with that.

So what about his cons? Well, he's a complete wimp when he's actually challenged head on. He always tries to place the blame on himself for just about everything bad that happens around him. He's not social. Like, at all. At least when Blake actually talks to people she isn't a bumbling idiot about it. His dragon heritage would probably cause a lot of problems when it comes to his family and hometown, since she's a human. He's completely dense when it comes to how women actually work, he never even notices Pyrrha-

Pyrrha. There was no way that she could go after Jaune as long as Pyrrha is around. Not only because of the fact that the redhead technically got first dibs on him, but because if Jaune was stolen from her it could possibly break her heart. And Yang would not be known as the heartbreaker around Beacon. Or the manstealer.

But then again, it was completely Jaune's choice on who he wanted to date. Maybe there's something about Pyrrha that's just not compatible with him, so he's just acting like he has absolutely no clue as to what's going on. Or maybe she's just trying to delude herself into thinking that so she won't feel as bad for trying to steal him... wait no she hadn't reached any conclusions yet!

Because she still had to debate more on the matter of him being an entirely different species. He was a dragon, and that was what kept crawling into her head over and over again. She couldn't even begin to understand how he worked, or what he was. Because faunus were one thing, dragons are another. She had to wonder as to why she hadn't really questioned any of it until now, she was famous for just going with the flow sure, but even then she was still at least somewhat aware of what was going on. But she just sorta zoned out and became enraptured with him. I mean, he looked like a lost puppy when she first found out, and her instincts told her that he obviously needed help. Well, that and her instincts just wanted to see a dragon do cool dragon stuff.

And despite the fact that she knew nothing about how he worked biologically, she was still able to at least help him with his fire breathing and basic physical fitness. But would she be willing to go through the effort of having to learn how he worked entirely? After all, she couldn't just get with someone and have no idea how they worked. Well, she could but that would just complicate things further down the line. She probably could. It could be a fun experience, and in more ways than just one.

But that was neither here nor there, she needed to make some kind of a conclusion. Because she wasn't going to just sit around forever and think "What if" for the rest of her life, that wasn't her style! Yang Xiao Long doesn't just wonder what if! So what exactly was she going to do?

"Hey Yang?"

She glanced over to her side, tilting her head enough so that she could see off of her bunk. Ruby was standing next to it, her hands behind her back as her boot dug into the carpet. Clearly she wanted something. "Yo, what's up sis?"

"I was wondering if we could maybe head into Vale? I want to check out some new stock they got at Wilson's Weapon Warehouse. I've heard they got some new mods in that would be awesome for Crescent Rose!"

A smirk made its way onto Yang's face. That was the perfect distraction that she needed, Ruby sure had an amazing sense of timing. "Sure thing, sis! We can spend some quality time together!"

"Awesome! I've been wanting to go for a week now, but you've been so busy training with Jaune like every day. I figured you'd want to move in with him at this point!"

Yang momentarily felt a vein in her head bulge. "Excuse me?"

"Uuh, nothing! I was just talking about how awesome you are for taking me into Vale, that's all!"

"Don't you have enough parts for Crescent Rose already? I swear that thing is like a swiss army knife at his point." Yang moved to hop off of her bunk, but hesitated for a moment. "...Hey, sis? Can I ask you a question?"

Ruby smiled cheerfully at her sister. "Sure! ...As long as it isn't a math question."

"Heh... No, nothing like that. Uh... it's a weird one though. Have you ever thought that someone was... not good enough to... be your friend? Or that you were too good to be friends with someone else?"

Ruby tilted her head for a brief moment before letting out a small laugh. "Pff. Of course not! That's a stupid question! There isn't anyone who's not good enough to be my friend! And I would never think that I'd be better than someone like that! You can't just be better than someone when it comes to being a friend! Everyone should be friends with everyone! Except the Grimm. And maybe crazy murderers. Also super villains... wait no some super villains can be redeemed..."

Yang let out a small laugh at her sisters answer. However, Ruby's gaze hardened for a brief moment as she asked a question in response. "But why did you ask me that? Do you feel that way about Jaune?"

Yang froze up at her sisters question. "W-waddya mean, sis?"

"Well, I know a lot of people think Jaune is just some doofus. I mean he kinda is, but... he's also a lot like me! I was a doofus too!"

"Ruby, you weren't a doofus..."

"Sure I was! I nearly blew up Weiss, I couldn't hold a conversation with Blake, or anyone really, I screwed up a bunch during the entrance exam, and it took me forever just to prove to everyone that I was worth giving a shot at being a leader. But now I'm just as cool as everyone else!"

"...Ruby..."

Ruby gave her a heartwarming smile before shrugging her shoulders. "Yang, if you want to be better friends with Jaune, you shouldn't let anyone stop you! Right? ...Just don't forget about us again, please!"

Yang smiled to herself before she hopped off of her bunk, a free hand placing itself on Ruby's head before it began ruffling her hair. "Aaw! Come here, you!"

"ACK NO STOP!"

"Look at you, making me all proud by being the big girl for once! I think all that milk drinking is starting to work out for ya!"

Ruby puffed her cheeks out before breaking away from her sister, who just continued laughing in response. "Alright, how about we go to Vale like you wanted, huh?"

Ruby's eyes lit up as she began hopping around the room in an attempt to find her wallet, all the while Yang just rolled her eyes as she grabbed her own things. She had never thought that Ruby would be able to pick up on something like that. She had to give her sister a little more credit from now on, she wasn't as immature as she once thought.

She couldn't really judge Jaune completely based on what she's seen, at least not while she's considered a friend by him. Since people obviously treat their girlfriends and boyfriends differently than their regular friends. And judging someone before you actually form a relationship with them is no way to go about things. But at least now Yang knew what she was going to do with Jaune.

She'd wait. But she'd drop hints here and there for him to pick up on... wait no he'll never pick up on them... Maybe she'll drop some BIG hints that even an idiot couldn't miss. And then wait and see if he takes any kind of interest in her. And if her emotions get the better of her, she could always just straight up ask him out whenever she pleased and get it over with. Yeah, that would work. That way if Jaune finds someone else, like Pyrrha or god forbid Weiss, she won't be too beat up about it when she was rejected. She could just beat Jaune up about it and be done with it. At least, that's what she hoped.

* * *

Jaune was having conflicting thoughts about his relationship with Yang. And he was about to dwell on them in greater detail, something that made him uneasy. But then Ren walked into the room, giving him the perfect excuse to think that maybe his friend could give him some advice on the subject, given the fact that Ren deals with Nora on a daily basis. Gulping nervously, Jaune took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak.

"Hey uh, Ren? Do you have a second to talk?"

His friend regarded him with his magenta eyes, his face displaying no emotion as he gave a nod. He stepped over to the bed opposite to Jaune and took a seat, folding his hands in his lap in a manner that exuded patience and understanding, even with such small movements.

"Ren, you and I are pretty close, right?"

"I would consider us very good friends, yes."

"And you wouldn't be afraid to help me with any... personal issues, right?"

"I would say that this depends on how personal these issues are."

Jaune began sweating a bit at the implications of that statement. "Uh, well... it's about girls."

Ren nodded before breathing the smallest sigh. Whether or not it was in relief or annoyance, nobody would ever be able to tell. "I would like to tell you that I am nowhere near an expert on females, Jaune. But I will help in any way that I can."

"Uh, right. Well, I'm having a lot of conflicting emotions about a girl..."

"I would never think that you would have these thoughts about Weiss given how forward you are with her, what sparked them?"

Jaune blinked a few times. He had completely forgotten about his brief infatuation with the heiress. Is that what he was to all his friends? Just some bumbling, Weiss addicted moron? "Uuh, no no, they aren't about Weiss. They're about... someone else."

It was Ren's turn to blink a few times, the only sign of confusion or shock that he might have been able to give while the rest of his face remained mostly blank. "I see. So then what are these feelings?"

"Uh, well... I'm... unsure of myself. I feel like I don't deserve her, and that I'll never deserve her. I mean, she's so far out of my league. She's even more out there than I thought Weiss was. But, she's just done so much for me... And I only just recently realized that I had these feelings for her. How can someone like me, who's bottom of the barrel ever hope to get someone like her?"

"That's preposterous, Jaune. Nobody is "too good" or "too bad" for someone else."

Jaune let out a sigh as he reached behind him and began scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, that's what everyone says. But I just don't believe them."

"OH JUST GO TALK TO HER ALREADY!"

Jaune fell forward in shock, the shouting voice of Nora scaring him off of his own bed. With lightning fast reflexes, he shot up off the ground and spun around to face her. "NORA?! How long were you in the room?!"

"I never left! But seriously, Jaune! That girl has been crazy about you since the moment she talked to you, and when she finally gets on a team with you, you just IGNORE HER! It's sickening! Horrifying! Sadistic!"

Jaune scratched his head in confusion for a moment. Who was Nora talking about? "Yang's not on our team though?" His hand shot to his mouth when he realized what he had just blurted out. The resulting stare he got from Nora gave him was a little unsettling. And as if to add on to his mistake, even Ren had gone wide eyed.

Nora's face turned a bright shade of pink before she had another outburst. "WHAT?!"

"I- I uh... yeah, I think I like Yang. Like, a lot like. Like like? I really-"

"You're supposed to be in love with PYRRHA, not YANG! P-Y-R-R-H-A!"

Ren stood up for a brief moment in shock. "NORA!"

"What?! I'm sick and tired of him being a... doofus!"

Jaune sat back down on his bed, looking into the palms of his hands as they rested on his lap. "Pyrrha? Why would you guys think I would be into her?"

Nora stared at him, mouth agape. "Why would we- JAUNE WHAT THE HECK?!"

"What?! Help me understand! Because I don't see her that way! I don't think I can see her that way!"

The room fell mostly silent, only the sounds of Nora's feet hitting the ground as she stepped towards Ren, the two of them taking a seat in front of Jaune. "Why would I even think to see her that way?"

Nora went to respond, however the sound of Ren clearing his throat made her stop. "Because, Jaune. Pyrrha has expressed interest in you. Romantic interest. She doesn't do everything that she does simply because she's your friend and partner. It quickly became more than that, especially once you approached her yourself for training. Have you never noticed the stares she gives you? Or the praise she showers you with whenever you perform well?"

Nora pushed Ren to the side briefly to add in her two cents. "What about the fact that she's practically SUPER GLUED to you?!"

"I've noticed all that, despite what everyone thought. And thinks."

Nora had yet another outburst before Ren could continue his side of the conversation. "Then why haven't you said anything?!"

"Because... because I just thought she would stop when she saw that I wasn't picking up on any of it."

"That's no way to do things, Jaune! That's playing with a girls heart! You can't play with a heart, Jaune! Well, okay if you rip it out of the person maybe. But that would be murder! And very messy. Unless it's a Grimm. Wait, do Grimm bleed?"

"I know it's not the right thing to do, but I just never thought to do anything else! I've had my own problems since day one!"

Nora went to speak again, but a hand from Ren raised itself in front of her. "Very well then, Jaune. May I ask why you don't think you can see Pyrrha as anything other than a friend?"

Jaune began to sweat a bit. He came into this conversation wanting simple advice, not to be interrogated on why he didn't like a friend that liked him. "Well... it's because she's too overbearing. She reminds me of my parents, they used to baby me in everything. Shower me with praise, tell me to never think lowly of myself... up until I disobeyed them one day. And then they just tried to control my life after that, so that I wouldn't go down the path that they wanted me to avoid."

Ren nodded. "I see, so you think that this will happen with Pyrrha, yes?"

"No, not really. With Pyrrha, I just think she'll take it personally if I tell her to ease off. She's beautiful, but... she just lacks something that I can't put my finger on. And I don't want to ruin our friendship over me not being attracted to her. She's the best friend I've ever had, but I think that's all she'll ever be to me."

Ren let out a sigh before standing up, his arms at his sides. "Very well then. You came seeking advice, so this is my advice to you, Jaune. You need to start being honest. With yourself, and with others." Jaune paled up a little bit at Ren's words. "You cannot live your life hiding things like this from people. Because not only will you wind up hurting those you care about, you will hurt yourself as well. Making an excuse such as "I don't want to hurt them" will only bring them more pain when they inevitably find out. Or worse, when they spend their entire lives thinking about "What If" on such topics."

"And as for your dilemma with Yang, I will leave you with an old saying I heard once. You miss every shot that you do not take."

Jaune smiled weakly at both pieces of advice, a sigh being drawn from his lips afterwards. "Thanks, Ren. That... I think that helped. I'm gonna go get some air, clear out my head a bit."

Ren nodded, both him and Nora watching as Jaune slowly got to his feet before trudging to the door. Once Jaune had walked out and shut the door, Nora blew up yet again, her arms waving around in a frantic manner as she zipped around the room. "HOW DID HE JUST BLOW OVER EVERYTHING WE SAID ABOUT PYRRHA LIKE THAT?! He just brushed it off like it was just... just a bunch of pancake crumbs!"

"I'm not so sure myself, Nora. But perhaps he'll take my advice to heart before he does something he might regret."

As Jaune slowly trudged down the hall, he thought of the best possible way to go about tackling both issues.

"Hello, Jaune!"

He snapped to attention, the feminine voice putting him in a state of fear. Glancing ahead, his eyes were met with the green eyes of his partner, Pyrrha.

"O-oh hey, Pyrrha. How uh, how are you?"

"I'm feeling well, I just finished up a few sparring matches with Weiss and Blake."

"Blake? Did she say anything about me?"

Pyrrha frowned in response. "Nothing good I'm afraid. I'm sorry."

He let out a forlorn sigh in response. "It's alright. Just thought I'd ask."

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, uh... just to get some fresh air. Clear out my head a bit."

"That sounds nice. I would ask to join, but I'm a bit worn out from my matches. I hope you clear out your head, though! Can't have our leader's mind being cloudy!"

"Heh... right... Thanks."

Jaune watched as his partner smiled and walked by. For a brief moment, he felt a spike of guilt shoot through him that he had never felt before. Turning on his heels, he called out to her. "Uh, Pyrrha?"

She stopped in her tracks, spinning around with enough force to whip her ponytail up into the air for a moment. "Yes, Jaune?"

"I... uh... I... hope you enjoy your relaxation time. Can't have my partner being tired during class, right?"

Pyrrha's smile wavered a bit before it forced itself back into position. "Right! Thank you!"

Smiling back, Jaune turned and began walking away once more. Pyrrha let out a small sigh before she turned around as well, opening the door to their room as she stepped in.

Nora and Ren froze up upon her entry, noting that she simply gave them a small wave before retrieving a towel from the closet. Shortly after she stepped into the bathroom, the sounds of a shower could be heard coming from the closed door. Nora briefly turned to Ren, a look of concern on her face.

"Should we tell her?"

Without turning to face her, Ren simply sighed. "No, Nora. That is something for Jaune to do on his own."

Nora nodded to herself before turning back to the assignment she had been working on.

Jaune meanwhile, had been thinking of his own way to solve his dilemma.

"How could I let Yang know that I have feelings for her without just blurting it out...? I don't want to look desperate, after all. She'd probably think I'm just trying to rebound after being rejected by Weiss so many times..."

Jaune reached around to scratch an itch on his back, his hand brushing along the spot where his scars would be if he were a dragon. And then an idea hit him. One that made him gulp nervously just thinking about it.

But if he really wanted to prove to himself, and to Yang, that she was more to him than just a simple friend, he would have to do it.


	19. Flight 2: Golden Boogaloo

Jaune sat on the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest, his fingers brushing over the sides of his scroll as he stared uneasily down at it. He was extremely nervous over what he was about to do. He wasn't even sure if he was ready for this sort of thing, but he felt as if he could trust Yang enough to do it. He was going to open up to her even more today, this time about his feelings towards her.

If all went well, she would say yes, they could schedule a date and maybe take things from there. Who knew? Maybe by the time school ended, they would be ready to get married. Okay maybe that was over thinking it a bit. Besides, he actually had to power through his nervous nature first. And actually get her out to the cliff. He looked down at the scroll once more, his finger hovering over Yang's name. He took in a small breath before tapping it, bringing up a small keyboard at the bottom half of the screen after he did so.

His fingers tapped away on the touch screen keypad, yet he found that his nervous nature still translated quite well into the written words despite the fact that it was arguably harder to convey such emotions in simple text format.

"Hey uh, what's up?"

He waited for a reply, contemplating on how he would even go about-

"Nothing much. What about you?"

Tapping at the keys once more, Jaune decided that before he'd ask the question he wanted to, he'd ask a different yet equally as important one first.

"Well, I'm thinking of doing something... interesting today, but first... is Blake still mad at me?"

"Yeah uh, mad is probably an understatement, dude."

He grimaced at the screen before he began typing up another message.

"Great."

"So what were you planning today?"

Jaune gulped a bit before going to type another message, his hands shaking a bit as he did.

"Uh, well... I was wondering if you wanted to do something... interesting?"

"Like?"

"It's kind of... confidential. Maybe you could come to the cliff by the EF?"

There was a brief period of inactivity that made him a bit nervous before he got another message.

"Do I have to? I'm kind of just kicking back today."

"You don't HAVE to I guess, but it's kinda important."

Another lapse in messages for a few minutes.

"Fiiiiiine. I'll throw something on and meet you there."

"Throw something on?"

"Nobody else is around today. Ruby got dragged off by Weiss for studying, and Blake went to the bookstore in Vale, so I've just been chillin' in my bed. Without anything on."

Jaune dropped his scroll with a panicked yelp, as if he had just stumbled upon a website that had some unsavory content on it. But he let out a short laugh as he realized that she must have been joking. Right?

"Heh, that was uh... that's a joke, right?"

The only reply he got was a winky face with a heart next to it, making him blush a bit as he thought about the implications of her messages, despite the fact that she was just teasing him. Around fifteen minutes later, there was still no sign of Yang. Checking his scroll, Jaune found that his inbox was empty. Had she cancelled on him without saying so? Or maybe she just forgot about it entirely? Maybe she-

"Alright, you got me out here. Is this the part where you sweep me off my feet and kiss me?"

He jumped a bit as he heard Yang's voice come from behind him, turning to see that she looked a little bit irritated over the fact that she had to come all the way out here.

"Uh...N-no, w-well uh... How are you today?"

Yang folded her arms and shot him a look of even greater irritation. Now he was flipping back to old Jaune again? Great. "Jaune, what's wrong?"

"I'm uh... I'm just nervous..."

"About?"

"What I'm going to do..."

Jaune shifted into his speed form, sitting down as he did. His tail wrapped around his hind legs on the ground while his nervously scratched the back of his neck with his free front one. His wings spread out as far as they could as if to stretch before they eased back into a more normal position.

Yang cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head. "What exactly are you going to do?"

In response, Jaune grit his teeth a bit as he turned towards the cliff. He gulped nervously before he gestured to his back with his thumb.

"I'm going to offer you a ride."

Yang blinked a few times before her eyes widened a bit in shock. Was he really offering her what she thought he was offering her?

"Jaune...? Are you...?"

"Offering you a ride on my back? ...Yeah. I am."

Yang slowly approached him, but stopped a few feet away. She couldn't believe what he was doing, there was no way that he could have been over all that trauma he said he only just recently remembered. Maybe he was trying a bit too hard to win her affection in a subtle manner? Well, it wasn't that subtle to her, but to someone else, maybe it would be.

"Are you... are you serious?"

She could see him tense up a bit at the question. "Y-yeah. After everything we've been through..."

"I... I trust you, Yang. You've done so much to help me, some of those things even having a negative outcome for you. But you never backed down." Jaune lowered his head a bit before he continued. "...And I haven't really done anything for you. This is the least I can do, even if-"

"Okay, shut up for a sec. You've done a lot for me. Are you really gonna pass off finding Blake and saving her as doing nothing?"

"No, but that-"

"Plus, your back is all scarred, right? It obviously hurt you when I hopped onto your back last time, otherwise you wouldn't have freaked out like that."

"It didn't hurt me physically..." Jaune put a claw up to his forehead, lifting himself up dramatically as he did. "It hurt me... emotionally! I'm just a poor, emotional man trapped in this scaly shell."

Yang's cheeks puffed up as a result of trying to stifle her laughter. This wasn't a time to be laughing at stupid jokes. "This is serious, Jaune."

"And I'm just as serious as you are. I want to do this, Yang. So just indulge in my stupid little fantasy."

"Ooooh, so you want a girl riding on you huh? Shoulda just said that instead, I can totally do that."

Jaune's eyes went wide for a moment, his body nearly flipping up into the air as he turned to fully face her. "THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

Yang burst out laughing at the shade of red the golden dragons scales turned, his wings fluttering a bit in embarrassment. Once she had her fun, Jaune turned back towards the cliff, his wings folded up once more. Yang slowly approached him nervously, her hand reaching out for his back before she stopped it midway, pulling it back to her as if his scales had burned her. She winced at the memory of him panicking, and at the thought of why he did so.

"Are you sure you can even fit me on your back?"

Rolling his eyes, Jaune let out a disgruntled snort. "Please, Yang. I'm bigger than a freaking Ursa, and you saw how Nora rode on one of those."

"You're not... THAT much bigger than an ursa..."

"Look, if you just get on the part where my neck and back meet, you should be fine. You'll be in the pocket just before my wings sprout out of my back."

"You have pockets? Like, a kangaroo?"

Jaune rolled his eyes again. "Not like that. I just meant it was a free space."

Yang took a few steps closer, her hand reaching towards his back once more. She slowly and softly placed it on his scales, earning a very brief flinch from him before his body seemingly relaxed. "See? All good."

She smiled softly at his words before stepping towards his head, coming to a stop in between where his back and neck met. "Is this the spot?"

Jaune knelt down to the ground so it would be easier for her to get on. "Yep, just hop on."

Slowly, Yang began hoisting herself onto the dragon. As her right leg raised itself up and over him, the sensation of her skin brushing up against his sent shivers up his spine. Which she quickly took notice of. "Everything okay, Jaune?"

"O-oh. Yep. Totally fine."

He flinched yet again when he felt her full weight plop down on him. Once he felt that she was firmly on his back, he began to slowly stand up. The sensation of having a person on his back felt almost like carrying a toddler on his shoulders as a human. As he stood up to his full height, he felt the sensation of Yang's arms wrapping themselves around his neck. A bit too tightly at that.

"Ack! Little looser, Yang!"

"Sorry!"

Once she had let up, Jaune flapped his wings a few times just to make sure that they wouldn't hit her. "Feel anything?"

"Nope. You're good."

Nodding to her, he flapped his wings with added strength, lifting himself off the ground for a brief moment. The two of them hovered in the spot for a moment, Jaune gaining a bit of height in the air before finally touching back down. "Just wanted to make sure this felt comfortable. I think I'm ready to go now, what about you?"

Yang scratched the side of her head as she looked out at the Emerald Forest. She wasn't exactly sure if she was ready for this, but she was going to give it a try regardless. Couldn't be much worse than being carried. "Ready to Yang ten!"

"This isn't surfing, Yang."

"It could be like... sky surfing! Maybe if I just stood up while we were flying I could-"

"Yeah, let's not try that. Just hang on tight, alright?"

"You got it, boss." She chuckled to herself as she felt him take a few steps forward towards the edge of the cliff.

As Jaune looked over the cliff, he took in a deep breathe before exhaling. "Alright. Here we go." He muttered to himself before he leaned forward and let gravity take control of his movements.

The world shifted for a moment as Jaune fell off the cliff, much like last time he waited until he neared the treelines before straightening out. As the two flew along the treeline, Yang took in the sights of the Emerald Forest from a different position this time. There was a huge difference in riding on the back of a dragon compared to being carried by said dragon while in the air, mostly the fact that you could just take in more. And the increased ability to see more allowed Yang to notice that they were actually heading AWAY from the Emerald Forest.

Yang leaned forward a bit and spoke into Jaune's ear, raising her voice a bit so he could properly hear her. "Uh, Jaune? Where are we going?"

"Well, we've already been to the Emerald Forest enough for one lifetime. So I thought maybe we could go see the sights in downtown Vale for a bit!"

Yang blinked a few times before she looked down to see that the ocean was speeding by below them. And that they had gained an extreme amount of altitude in a short period of time. Yang briefly flinched as the sensation of cold moisture assaulted her face. Blinking a few times to clear her vision, she saw that the two of them had flown into the clouds. Her mouth fell agape at the sight, having never seen clouds in such a way before. Reaching her hand out, she watched as it flowed into a passing cloud and scattered it's particles across the skyline as it was dragged through. Jaune began dropping altitude shortly afterwards, forcing her to grip his neck with both of her hands.

Once they had left the clouds, Yang marveled at the bustling city that was now below them. Jaune made sure that he slowed his flight speed down enough for her to take in the sights, which also gave him a bit of time to think to himself. This would be the perfect time to talk with her about his feelings. But yet, he found himself unable to open his mouth and actually say anything. He really couldn't understand why, after all he had no problems telling Weiss about his interest in her. Over and over again, even after the many rejections. Was that because he didn't truly have feelings for Weiss? It didn't matter right now, what mattered most was expressing his feelings. He didn't want to risk waiting any longer, after all if he did, Yang could end up with someone else. No, it had to be today.

...He just had to work up the courage to say something, that's all.

They circled the city a few times until Jaune finally decided to head back to the cliff, as the sky was beginning to turn orange. The flight back was mostly quiet, until he felt Yang scoot closer to his head so she could talk to him.

"So hey, this has been amazing. But I feel a bit bad."

"About what?"

"Well... okay, I don't feel bad for myself, more for the others."

"The others?"

"Yeah, nobody else gets to experience having a dragon for a friend but me. Can you imagine how Ruby, Weiss and Blake would react to this?"

Jaune laughed a bit before frowning. "I don't think Blake would care."

"Are you kidding? Dude, do you have any idea on what would happen if-" She paused for a moment, an idea popping into her head. "Jaune, I just thought of the perfect way for you and Blake to fix your friendship!"

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Tell her you're a dragon!"

Yang had to briefly latch on to Jaune's neck as he ran into some turbulence, mostly from the shock of her suggestion. "Absolutely not!"

"Why? You both said that nobody can understand either of you, but you've both got the whole "hiding in plain sight" thing going on. She'd totally understand what you meant if you just told her-"

"No, Yang. Not yet. I'll let you know when I'm ready to tell someone else, okay?"

Yang simply let out a sigh and began to pout the rest of the way back to the cliff. It was a good idea, she just had to make him see that it was. They had waited long enough anyways, it'd been almost two months since they started training together. And with the first semester ending soon, they would be doing some serious studying and training come the second semester. Especially for the Vytal Festival.

Once they had returned to the cliff, Jaune sat down and bent over a bit, allowing Yang to easily hop off of his back. As she did, she gave him a few brief pats before stepping in front of him. "Well, that was friggin' amazing. Hell of a lot better than being carried."

"Glad you liked it. I enjoyed it too. I mean, with you I was finally able to conquer my skittish tendencies about my back. I think."

Yang gave him a grin and a thumbs up before turning around. Jaune watched as she began walking back to Beacon, and every section of his brain began shouting things at him simultaneously.

ASK HER YOU IDIOT!

Jaune gulped nervously for a moment before taking a step forward, his wings fluttering a bit as he got anxious. Finally, he was able to push himself to say something. "S-so uh, Yang? I... I have something I'd like to ask you."

Yang turned back to Jaune, noticing that he was still in his dragon form. She also noticed that he was sweating, but that wasn't that hard to notice considering the fact that he was doing so profusely. "Sure, what's up?"

He began to hyperventilate a bit before he shut his eyes and took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds before releasing it. He could do this, he was a dragon after all. And if it's one thing dragons were good at it's... he didn't know where he was going with that thought but either way, it helped.

"Would you uh, maybe... would you like to go to the arcade with me on monday? Since, y'know... the second semester is beginning in a couple days, I just kinda figured we could get a few more fun days in."

A small smile formed on Yang's lips. She was certainly proud of him for being the one to ask her, since she figured she would have to do all the work. But she felt like testing him further. "Oh, sure! Ruby will be stoked to go back to that place."

Jaune shrunk down a bit, a claw instinctively going to the back of his head to rub at it. "O-oh... yeah... she will... It'll be fun with us... three..."

Come on Jaune, man up for once! The thought rang out in both of their heads.

Jaune felt a sudden spike of emotions flow through him as his brain shouted at him, causing him to puff out his chest a bit. "I mean, no! I don't want Ruby to come along with us! I don't want anybody else coming along!"

There was a bone chilling silence that followed, before Yang's smirk grew wider. "Oh? So are you saying that you just want it to be between us?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Jaune Arc... are you asking me out on a date?"

He gulped nervously, feeling the dryness of his throat as he did. "I... uh... Yes! Yes I am!"

Yang's smirk grew into a toothy grin as she took a step towards him. "Wow. I'm being asked out by a dragon. What makes me so worthy?"

"W-what?"

"You heard me. Wouldn't you rather go ask out that Snow Angel of yours? I'm sure she-"

"No! Weiss isn't even close to being as beautiful as you!" He smacked a claw over his mouth.

"Oh? Little old me? Beautiful? Tell me more!" Jaune kept his hand firmly placed over his mouth, causing Yang to narrow her eyes. "No, seriously. Tell me more."

"Well, I uh... umm..." Jaune hesitation only seemed to annoy Yang more, as a hand went down to her hip before she cocked an eyebrow. "W-well... I never really noticed it before but uh... Okay, look... Yang, you've done so much to help me since you found out I was a dragon. And it's really opened my eyes. You're beautiful, radiant like the sun. You always know how to have fun, your laugh is just as beautiful as the rest of you, and even when I groan about all the teasing you do, I wouldn't give that up for anything else in the world. You also never let anyone push you or your friends around, and you aren't afraid to take action or butt heads with another person."

Yang hummed a bit as she raised a finger to her lips, while her mind was practically doing backflips at the fact that she had been right about Jaune. And her own feelings for him. The fact that he did all this just to get her alone, and to set the perfect tone for popping a question about going on a date... she was more than impressed.

"Yang Xiao Long... I... I think I've honestly fallen head over heels for you."

Yang stood in silence, her stance not changing. Jaune sat there nervously, thinking that he had finally blown it. After this, there's no way she would want to be friends with him, let alone see him ever again. He had successfully ruined his friendship with two members of team RWBY. Three if you count the friendship he technically never had with Weiss. How could he even look at-

"That was really sappy, dude."

He felt his heart stop for a moment.

"But, I liked it."

His heart started back up again, this time twice as fast.

Yang sauntered over to Jaune, her hips seemed to sway a bit as she did. Was she teasing him again, or was this serious? Either way, he began to get flustered. His wings began flapping lightly of their own accord until she got within arms length of him. Once she had reached him, she traced a finger up his chest for a moment. "And I think I might like you that way too, but... only one way to find out, right?"

His heart stopped again. Was this really happening?

"But before I go on a date with you... you have to do something for me first!"

He paused for a moment before his head snapped forward a bit. "Anything!"

Yang placed a finger on her lower lip, tracing it across slowly, a shy expression adorning her face as she did so. She was really pouring it on, mostly because she was having fun with it. "Anything?"

Jaune gulped nervously but nodded in response, which made Yang smile brightly.

"Alright then! I want you to tell our friends that you're a dragon!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

So, two chapters in two days. There's a reason for this.

Because I have an important announcement.

There's going to be a chapter drought until the 7th, because on the 7th I'll be going away on an 11 day trip to the wonderful world of Disney. Not to worry though, I'll still be posting chapters while I'm gone. I've just got to finish up said chapters before leaving, which is why there will be this small drought before that date. I want to have plenty of chapters stockpiled so I can just have them uploaded here. That way, I'll just be able to pop on my phone when I wake up in the morning and throw a chapter up from the document manager.

So until then, remember to keep reading, enjoying my stories, and spreading the word!

Thank you!


	20. The Gladiator and The Fairy Tale

On the rooftop of the dorms, the sound of metal scraping against metal could be heard echoing into the night. Jaune had taken to the offensive this time, stabbing his sword forward in an attempt to hit his partner. The blow was easily deflected by her shield, her javelin striking out in the same way, aimed for the upper part his left leg. He planted his weight firmly into his right, turning his body so that the weapon would just barely skim over the pants around his thigh. Jaune threw himself forward, using his shield as both his guard and his weapon, slamming crudely into Pyrrha. She stumbled backwards a bit, giving him the perfect opportunity to try and stab forward once again. Just as it looked like he was finally about to land a hit against Pyrrha for the first time since they started sparring, he felt his hand shake and move too far to the left, allowing the gladiator to parry the blow with her javelin as she pulled her own arm back.

He wasn't exactly sure as to why his hand had suddenly gotten to shaky, he wasn't nervous about hurting his partner. Maybe it was his nerves over what Yang had said the day before that had gotten him riled up, unable to fully concentrate on the fight at hand. Still, it was a strange sensation to say the least. Almost as if a ghostly hand had pushed his own weapon aside. Stress was weird like that, he supposed. Pyrrha used her shield to slam into Jaune's sword arm, knocking it to the side while forcing the rest of his body to follow suit. As he attempted to right himself, he failed to avoid the shield as it reversed directions and came back right into his face, a loud clang ringing out as he was knocked off of his feet and thrown into the air.

Jaune let out a grunt as he hit the floor, the back of his head cracking against the concrete. He was quite sure that without his Aura, his brains would be splattered across the roof at this point. He wondered in amazement as to why Dragons didn't have their auras unlocked at all, even with their tough scales having an aura to shield them would make them that much tougher. He grumbled a bit as he attempted to push himself off of the ground, a hand positioning itself above him as an offering of help. Taking the hand, he found himself pulled up faster then he could react. But he had gotten used to it by now.

"Very good, Jaune! To say you've improved might be a bit of an understatement!"

"Thanks, Pyrrha, but uh... what does that mean?"

"You've gotten so much better within the past month, so much so that now you can actually hold your own against me. It's actually quite unbelievable, and I'm tempted to ask what your secret is." Pyrrha leaned in a bit closer during her explanation, a smile gracing her face as if she were subtly asking without actually saying anything. Jaune simply stifled a nervous laugh as he took a step away from her, saying nothing as he knew the answer to that question was not something she would want to hear.

After all, his improvements had all come mostly from Yang. That isn't to say that Pyrrha's training wasn't helping either, but Yang was the one helping him master his dragon side. His true side. Not this clunky, human form that he had to contort himself to fit into every time he activated his semblance.

And while he felt himself improving in other areas of his life, his physical training as a human was one of those areas he felt he was still lacking in. True to her words, he had improved at a much faster pace then before, most likely thanks to some of the various techniques he had picked up by sparring with Yang in addition to sparring with Pyrrha. But he still felt as though he was completely useless as a human. And why wouldn't he? As a dragon, he was powerful, fast, intelligent. And while he kept said intelligence while he was a human, he lacked the strength and speed of his peers. Was there something he was doing wrong? Was there something with his dragon side that was stopping him from unlocking his potential as a human? He had no idea. And he knew that he also had nobody to ask for help on the subject. He was alone.

And to make matters worse, now he was being pressured by Yang to reveal his secret to all their friends. Why had she wanted them to know so suddenly? Had she finally gotten tired of keeping the charade up? Or did she really think that telling Blake about his true identity would perhaps fix their relationship? If anything, it could make their relationship worse. And that goes not just for Blake, but for the rest of his friends as well. What if they began treating him differently because he was a dragon? Yang certainly didn't treat him any differently, with the exception that she seemed to offer him a little more respect than usual... And the whole possibility of them starting to develop more feelings for each other. But he wouldn't even begin to explore that possibility until he finished the task of telling his friends his greatest secret. And he still didn't know if he was ready.

Sighing heavily, he dragged himself over to the edge of the roof and sat down, his legs dangling over the edge as he stared up into the starry night sky. This action hadn't gone unnoticed by his partner, who made a move to sit next to him.

"Is something wrong, Jaune?"

He turned to her, his eyes filled with uncertainty and confusion. It was obvious that he didn't want to say what was wrong, she had seen him like this before. The whole incident with Cardin bullying him proved to all of them that if given the chance, Jaune would avoid talking about any of his problems and just suffer quietly as the rest of the world moved along like nothing was ever wrong.

"It's... it's nothing..." He sighed to himself more than he did to her. Even he was getting a little tired of saying those words, but he couldn't stop himself from doing so. He couldn't just throw his burdens out onto his friends and risk dragging them down with him.

"Jaune... Please stop."

He glanced back over to her and looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"You always do this, Jaune. You push me... I mean, you push us away whenever we try to help you. Why? Are you afraid to ask for help? Do you just think that we don't care? Tell me, please. I'm so tired of seeing you do this to yourself."

His face seemingly melted a bit, as if his stress had begun weighting him own suddenly. "Pyrrha... I just don't want to put any of my stress on you. I don't want to burden you with my problems."

"That's just it, Jaune. Your problems become ours whether you hide them or not."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, when one of us has a problem, we all have a problem. If one of our teammates, our friends, isn't performing well then it endangers all of us. Jaune, your pain weighs you down, and then we have to pick up your slack." Her eyes widened for a moment at what her statement implied. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!"

"I get what you're saying, Pyrrha. It's just... I'm scared."

She placed a hand on his shoulder, her smile not faltering for even a second. "We all are, Jaune. And it's only natural. But we need that fear, because without it we wouldn't have the drive to conquer it."

He sat there in silence for a moment, pondering her words. Did he have the drive to conquer his own fears? He wanted to tell everyone so badly, but he felt that they wouldn't accept him the way Yang had. He wanted to ask for advice, but he had nobody he could go to. No dragons to give him advice from his side, and no people that could give him advice from theirs. Yang was no help, she wanted him to spill the beans so she would use every trick that she had to get him to do so. Even the promise of a date...

A date... Is that the reason why she even said that in the first place? Just to use it as bait for him to reveal his secret? No... she wouldn't play with someones emotions like that. Yang could be pushy, and she could be mean. But she was never downright cruel. Right?

No, she wouldn't. She had only good intentions after all, she wanted to use that as a way of fixing his friendship with Blake. ...Blake... She would have been a good person to talk to about this. Of course, he would never have known that in the first place, given the fact that he thought she was a human up until only recently. But she was like him... she hid herself away from the world out of fear of how it would treat her. And when she finally did come clean over it, it was completely accidental. Just like him. They really were alike in so many ways. But that gave him an idea.

"Pyrrha, can I ask you a question?"

Her smile seemed to brighten at the question. "Of course!"

"If you had a secret... one that could change the way all your friends looked at you, and the way they thought of you... and you were scared to tell them about it, but knew that they had to learn eventually... what would you do?"

Pyrrha's smile faltered. She turned away from him and gazed into the sky, a look of deep concentration gracing her face. "Is this about Blake?"

"Uh, sure..." He lied, but he didn't want to drop any hints that it could have been him.

"If I was in Blake's position... I can't say I would be eager to reveal my secret. But at the same time, I know that keeping it could hurt everyone in the long run. And I would be right, given the fact that when Blake did reveal it, it had been accidentally. And it nearly tore their team apart. I think that perhaps... I would experiment. I would tell only one of my friends, and swear them to secrecy. If they reacted well, if they kept it a secret... Then I would feel more comfortable with telling the rest of my friends. And if they reacted in a... unpleasant way, then they would surely tell everyone. And either way, my secret would be out in the open."

"...But that doesn't sound right at all."

She turned back to him, smiling. "Of course it doesn't, Jaune. We all have our ways of handling a situation, and none of them are perfect."

"Yeah... I guess you're right..." Nobody was perfect. It was a simple saying... or rather, a rule at this point, that had been established since the dawn of time. Even if he did occasional find himself thinking that Pyrrha was perfect, she had found ways to debunk that thought.

"...But if your friends are truly your friends, then they would accept you no matter what... unless of course maybe you were doing something illegal... Wait, no Blake did illegal things, didn't she?"

Jaune scratched the side of his head nervously. He wasn't supposed to even tell them about any of that, but he found himself unable to do so. "Uuh... I uh... I don't remember?"

"Well, it hardly matters, since she came here to escape that life. To make amends. And it's that fact that makes someone redeemable. The fact that they want to redeem themselves and... I'm sorry, I'm going off topic! I just wish I- I mean we could help you more with this, Jaune. But it seems Blake is just too stubborn to give you another chance. I'm sorry."

"...It's okay, Pyrrha. I have a way to fix this, I think... but... I'm scared of trying to do so."

She cocked an eyebrow as she gazed deeper into his eyes. What exactly was he thinking? She had never known him to be scared of trying to make amends with someone. "What did you have in mind?"

"I... I can't tell you right now. It would change the way you look- I mean... I just can't."

She nodded her head and let out a questioning hum, turning her head back to the sight of the starry sky. So it was him that the previous conversation had been about, not Blake. That was one good thing about Jaune. He was a terrible liar. But perhaps she could coax him into revealing his plan, or even his secret, if she got a bit more... dramatic in her speaking?

"Jaune, you know you can tell me, or Ren, or Nora anything. I think you could even tell us that you were a Beowulf in a human costume, and that wouldn't change who you are to us. Although I would say that I'd be quite shocked at the fact that a Grimm could walk and talk, and not have an insatiable thirst for human blood!" She laughed a bit at her own joke, but quickly silenced herself when she realized that she was the only one laughing.

He felt a bit of comfort in her words, but they were all hypothetical as far as she was concerned. Was she really going to act the same way when he finally did reveal his big secret? Maybe. But was that a chance he was willing to take for not only himself, but for his friends as well?

"Listen to me, Jaune. I can't make you tell me what's wrong, but please know that you will never be alone. Even if everyone else gives up on you... I never will."

There was no response from him, not even a twitch or movement of his eyes. If everyone else left him, she would still be with him? It's a touching thing to say, but how much of that is because of how she really feels for him? Would she still say such a thing if he told her the truth about his feelings for her? ...No, Jaune. One thing at a time. Right now he had to focus on his feelings for Yang, and the biggest question is, was it worth going through all this trouble just for a date with her? Just a chance to see if he could end up with her?

Hell yes.

"Thank you, Pyrrha... I think I know what I'm going to do now."

"Really? That's great, I'm glad I could help-"

She turned to see that he had already gotten up, his back turned to her as he was making for the exit of the roof. "Listen, Pyrrha... uh... could you, Ren and Nora head down to the training halls with me tomorrow?"

"Oh, sure! Are we going to do some team sparring?"

Jaune briefly turned his head and gave her a minuscule smile as he fished his scroll out of his pocket. "...Yeah, something like that."

"I look forward to it, then!"

Nodding to her, he continued to slowly walk towards the exit of the roof, his hands bringing his scroll up to his face as he did. The sounds of his fingers tapping away on the touch screen could be heard for a few seconds before they stopped. His thumb had suddenly stopped, frozen in mid-air above the send button. He took a deep breath for a moment before hitting it.

"Yang, bring Ruby, Weiss and Blake to our usual room in the training halls tomorrow. I think it's time."

He wouldn't be scared anymore, he was going to embrace everything. For better or for worse.


	21. A Fairy Tale No More

**Author's Notes**

 **We've hit 500 follows!**

So as a way of thanking everyone, I've decided to release the next chapter early!  
This means that the next few chapters are going to be delayed by maybe a day or so each, since I won't be able to write while I'm on vacation, and I only had around three prepared to cover my time away.  
But I'm sure none of you actually care about that so long as you get your fix, which I'm completely fine with.

So here it is, the moment many of you have been waiting for.

I never thought this story would get so popular, and I can only hope that it continues to grow more popular in the future!

So thanks again, here's to 500 followers, and hopefully to another 500!

* * *

Weiss was getting impatient. They had all apparently been "summoned" by Yang and Jaune, but they were given no explanation as to why. And by all, she also meant the rest of team JNPR as well. What exactly was so important that they needed both teams present for? Turning to her summoner, she gave her an impatient glare before asking the obvious question that everyone else present wanted to know. "Why are we all here again?"

"Because, there's something really important that EVERYONE needs to know today."

"And that requires us being in this private training room because...?"

"You guys'll get it when it happens."

As team RWBY sat casually around the table, they carried on with their casual activities. Weiss began filing her nails, while Ruby was fiddling with Crescent Rose, and Blake was reading a book. Yang was actually starting to get a bit nervous herself, but that changed when they heard the door open and they all turned their heads to look at who it was. In stepped the members of team JNPR, all of them walking towards the bench that had been pulled up next to team RWBY's table. Pyrrha and Jaune both looked rather unsure of themselves, but Nora and Ren seemed to act as if nothing unusual was happening.

Blake's face scrunched into a very light scowl when Jaune walked by her, though she quickly buried it in her book. Once Jaune's friends had taken their seats, he stood in front of all of them, sweating profusely as he did.

"Soooo... how's everybody doing today? Good?"

Yang pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, while Weiss and Blake both looked up from their respective activities and shot him a glare. Ruby could sense the tension in the air, so she was the one who decided to try and speed things along so things didn't get... bad.

"Jaune? Why did you call everyone here so urgently?"

"Uh well, Ruby... I've got something important to tell you all. Something about me. As uh, as we all know, just a few days ago we had a little fiasco with... Blake."

Blake's scowl hardened at the mention of her, everyone turning to her when her name was brought up.

"And uh, I may have said some things that... offended her. A lot. So much so that she uh, she hates me now."

Nora hopped to her feet and cracked her knuckles, a grin spread across her face as she did so. "OOOOH! Is this some kinda intervention?! I call bad cop!"

"No, Nora. This is about me, not Blake..."

Nora sat back down and folded her arms, Ren patting her on the shoulder shortly after she did, though it seemed to offer little real comfort. Meanwhile, Blake had taken to scoffing at Jaune. "Of course it is. Why would it be about anything else?"

Jaune grit his teeth a bit in response. "Okay, look. Blake, when I said that I knew how you felt, I meant it."

She let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book. "Jaune, we're not getting into this again, there's no way you could know how I feel. Nobody here can, and while I accept that, the fact that you said that I knew nothing about discrimination... It wasn't justified, and it was insulting."

"Right, well uh, I'm sorry. I know you still don't accept that apology, but uh... Okay well... How do I say this the right way...?"

Jaune took a deep breath in, then exhaled and gathered his composure. And failed as he briefly began shivering a bit. He wasn't entirely sure if he really was ready for this, but he wasn't going to back down now.

"I've been lying to everyone here, too."

Everyone's interest was piqued as they all leaned forward, eager to hear what Jaune had been lying about to them. As all eyes were on him, Jaune felt himself sweating even more, his knees feeling like jelly as they wobbled a bit. He began mumbling to himself for a few brief moments before his mumbling soon turned into full blown shouting.

"I... I uh... I CAN DO THIS... I CAN DO THIS!"

Everyone stared at Jaune as if he had suddenly gone insane. Yang rolled her eyes as she stood up and walked over to him, placing both her hands on both of Jaune's shoulders, staring him straight in the eyes as she did.

"Yes Jaune, you can do it. So JUST DO IT ALREADY!"

She began shaking him furiously, which surprisingly helped calm him down. "Okay. Okay... just... give me some space."

Yang let go of Jaune and took a step backwards, firmly nodding to him while also giving him a thumbs up. The rest of team RWBY looked completely uninterested and unamused, and looking over at his friends he saw that they seemed much more concerned then they were before they even got into the room.

"Okay... uh..."

Jaune stared back at Yang, before his eyes began drifting back in forth between all of his friends. He cleared his throat for a moment and went to continue his announcement, though before he could actually speak someone else interrupted him.

"Can we move this along? I don't like being within 50 feet of him." Blake deadpanned as she continued reading her book. Only to have it pushed closed by the blonde who was now sitting next to her.

"Ah just put the book down, Blakey. Cos you're probably gonna drop it in a second. Right, Jaune?"

For a brief moment, she shot a small glare at her partner before her eyes turned back to Jaune. "I'm so confused..."

Ruby placed a hand on Blake's shoulder in response, trying to comfort her teammate. "I think everyone here except Yang and Jaune is confused, Blake."

"Okay, that's enough... I'm calm now."

Everyone turned their attention back to Jaune as he finally managed to compose himself. He took a deep breath in, then exhaled. Another in, then out. And on his final breath, he just decided to let loose. There was no sense in trying to explain it, since he would never be able to say it in words. Best to just show them first hand, right?

"Alright, this is getting frustrating, Arc, just tell us-"

Before Weiss could finish, a ring of fire briefly ignited at Jaune's feet before it began traveling up his body at an incredible speed. As the ring traveled up, the blondes human form and clothing was replaced by that of scales and claws. In an instant, the Jaune Arc that they knew had vanished, and in his place was a giant reptilian creature with wings and a tail that stood on four legs.

"W-w-what...th-the?"

Jaune opened both of his eyes slowly to see the complete and utter shock on each of his friends faces, minus Yang, who was sporting one of her biggest grins ever. It seemed like an eternity of silence had passed before Jaune finally decided to speak first, seeing as everyone else seemed to be in a state of shock and couldn't speak for themselves.

"So uh... Hi guys. My name's Jaune Arc... and I'm a Dragon..."

And once again, the room was filled with the complete sounds of absolutely nothing for what seemed like ANOTHER eternity before a shrill, high pitched noise broke out from the table that team RWBY was situated at. The noise in question was a particularly high pitched squeal coming from their team leader, Ruby, which startled everyone and made a few of her friends nearly jump out of their seats.

In a flash of red rose petals, Ruby was latched onto Jaune, embracing him in the biggest hug she had ever given anyone before.

"Jaune! OhmygoshIknewit! You're a... a DRAGON! Oh my GOSH look at your wings! And your claws! And your tail! And all these scales, they feel as strong as steel! I take back anything I might have possibly ever said about you that might have been not positive! You are the COOLEST PERSON TO EVER EXIST ON REMNANT!"

Jaune couldn't help but crack a smile, and also fight the urge to tear up a bit at the fact that no matter what anyone else would say or think about him, Ruby and Yang would be the two people who accepted him almost instantly when they found out his secret.

"Wait a second, you've said things about me behind my back? And what was that about you saying that you knew it?"

"Uh, I didn't say anything like that at all CAN YOU BREATHE FIRE?!"

"Heheh... uh, sure. Watch this!"

Jaune turned his back to the audience that he had and took a deep breathe, a cone of brilliant orange and red fire gushing from his mouth as he exhaled. Ruby's eyes sparkled like the stars on a clear night as she held her hands to her cheeks and pushed them upwards in pure excitement before she went back to inspecting the rest of him, starting with his razor sharp claws.

"THAT WAS AMAZING OH MY GOD JAUNE!" Ruby Squealed as she began zipping around him at lightning speed.

Jaune bowed his head in response. "Thanks, I've been practicing a lot and-" He paused for a brief moment when he felt a sensation rub against the top of his head. Looking up, he saw the little reaper standing in front of him with her hand out, petting him as if he were a puppy who had performed a trick.

"Ruby, are you petting me?"

Her hand jerked backwards immediately. "SORRY!"

"It's uh... it's okay, but remember that I'm still a person. Not an animal."

"I'm sorry! Sorry sorry sorry!"

Jaune briefly argued to himself that it actually felt kind of nice but pushed the thought away quickly.

Ruby went back to gushing over the now draconic Jaune, the rest of the group continued staring in disbelief, nobody willing to say or do anything until Weiss glanced over to Yang, seeing the large grin on the blondes face as she watched her little sister go completely crazy over the Dragon. How was she not shocked at these turn of events? She didn't believe in silly fairy tales like her sister did. Unless...

"...You... you KNEW about this... didn't you?"

Yang turned to the heiress and jabbed a thumb at herself. "Guilty as charged!"

"How long?"

"Little bit after our trip to Forever Fall."

Pyrrha was the first person to pick up on that, forcing herself to break away from the sight of her best friend and crush turning into a dragon in front of them to look at the blonde brawler.

"...He... you... you knew first? And he... he opened up to you about it?"

"Yep. He told me that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone else, and that he would tell you guys when he thought the time was right."

Yang missed the look of shock that came across Pyrrha's face before she glanced down at the ground. Ren placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to offer some form of comfort for his friend.

Yang briefly sat down next to Blake and glanced at her face, hers was probably the most hilarious. She quickly took out her scroll and snapped a photo, causing her partner to blink and shake her head.

"J-Jaune... he's a... he was... right..."

"Yep, he sure was. Bet you feel like such a bratty catty now, huh?"

"I... I don't even know what to feel right now..."

The first person to offer any real kind of response to Jaune himself from his own team was Nora. She slowly rose from her seat and walked up to her team leader, resulting in both him and Ruby quietly stopping their exchange.

"...Jaune?"

"Uh, yes Nora?"

"...You're a dragon."

"Yes Nora, I am." He winced a bit, expecting the normally bubbly ginger to become enraged or depressed that he had been keeping such a secret from her.

...But instead her eyes lit up as she held her hands out as if she was expecting to be picked up. "CAN I HAVE A PIGGY BACK RIDE?!"

His head jerked back in disbelief. "...What?!"

Instead of responding to him, Nora decided to run behind him and quickly hopped up onto his back before he could offer any kind of reaction, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did.

"QUICKLY, JAUNE! WE MUST TAKE TO THE SKIES! FLY MY PRETTY, FLY!"

Ruby meanwhile, began stamping her feet in frustration like a child throwing a tantrum before she attempted to hop onto Jaune's back as well. "NO FAIR! HE'S MY FRIEND FIRST, I SHOULD GET FIRST DIBS!"

"But I'M his teammate! That makes me closer to him than you!"

Jaune's eyes went wide at the two of his friends attempting to push each other off of his back, the sensation less than pleasant. He was about to object when a sudden shout rang out from team RWBY's table.

"HEY! GET OFF OF HIM RIGHT NOW OR SO HELP ME I WILL PULL BOTH OF YOU OFF!"

Everyone turned to see that Yang was practically on fire, her eyes burning red. Nora fell off of Jaune, while Ruby stared blankly at her sister before slowly and cautiously complying with her order. Once the two of them were off, Yang continued to glare at them as they walked back to their seats before she realized the outburst that she had let loose. Calming herself down a bit, she cleared her throat for a moment before speaking. "Sorry. He uh, he just has a huge problem with people getting on his back so suddenly."

"What do you mean, sis?" Ruby asked as she sat back down in her seat, whimpering slightly as she looked at Jaune and began daydreaming about all the cool stuff he could possibly do.

Yang's face softened a bit as she stared at Jaune, folding her arms as she did so. "I think it's best if he told you guys, not me."

"So uh... yeah... I guess that means I've got some explaining to do... A lot of explaining. How about we all sit down and do that?"

Everyone slowly nodded before getting another short scare, as Jaune suddenly shifted back into his human form with another ring of fire. Both Ruby and Nora whined as he did, causing a few people to roll their eyes.

"Aw come ooon! I want to see you do more cool dragon stuff!"

"Yeah! I wanna see all the cool stuff you can do too!"

"Later, guys. I think you all need the full story first. Well, except Yang. She's already heard it all."

"WHAT?!"

Ruby turned to her sister and shot the meanest glare she could possibly muster, which startled her sister quite a bit.

"Wooooah, easy there, Rubes. You were the first person I wanted to tell, I even took a picture of dragon Jaune when he wasn't looking! But he snatched my scroll out of my hand and erased it, and made me SWEAR not to tell anyone!"

"I don't care! YANG XIAO LONG I FIND YOU GUILTY OF HIDING THE COOLEST SECRET EVER FROM YOUR BABY SISTER!"

Yang held up her hands in self defense, but she paused for a brief moment when something donned on her. Something that she hadn't thought about since this whole fiasco with Jaune started. And it was so funny to her, that she couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing in front of everyone, which confused them all greatly.

"...What's so funny, Yang?"

"HAHAHAHA, OH MAN! I just realized! I'm YANG XIAO LONG!"

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "Okay...?"

"That means "Small Dragon of the Sunshine" according to our dad!"

"Uhh..."

"And I'm best friends with an ACTUAL dragon! How great is that?!"

Jaune couldn't help but offer Yang a chuckle just to humor her. In reality he didn't really find it all that funny, just a bit ironic. Everyone else seemed about as interested in the joke as he did.

After Yang had stopped laughing at her own joke, he sat down in front of everyone and began telling them his life story up to the point he arrived at Beacon. Many of his friends found themselves amazed at the fact that not only were Dragons real, but they had entire civilizations of their own scattered around the various kingdoms deep within the grimmlands. And they were even more amazed at the fact that the entire species shared a collective semblance that allowed them to shapeshift into humans. And just like with Yang, many of them also either winced or turned away when they heard the story of how he was injured.

He took in a deep breath as he finished. "...Aaand done. That's everything about me up until Beacon. And then... well, you know the rest."

Everyone seemed to be deep in thought with the exception of a few individuals, namely Ruby, Nora and Yang. While everyone was taking in all the information they had heard, Jaune took it upon himself to shift back into his speed form so they could get a better look at him. And only half of that was his ego telling him to do so. "So uh, any questions?"

Ruby's hand went up first as she stepped forward, still holding her hand in the air as she began waving it in his face. "Uh, if anyone has any questions, just feel free to ask." He joked as he ignored the little reaper in front of him, prompting her to puff her cheeks up in anger. "Alright alright, I'm just kidding, Ruby. What's your question?"

"Can you take me to your hometown?"

"What? No."

Nora soon appeared in front of him, her hand waving in front of his face. "Yes, Nora?"

"Can you take ME to your hometown?"

"No."

"Aw come OOONNN I wanna see how dragons live!"

"We live just like anyone else. Just with... scales. And wings. Besides, am I not good enough for you two?" He placed a hand on his chest, a look of hurt appearing on his face as he leaned back.

Both Nora and Ruby looked just as hurt by what he said, with Ruby waving her arms around frantically as she denied his claim. "What? Oh! No, no no! You're awesome!" As if to emphasize this, she hugged the dragon. "We just... y'know. Want to see more dragons."

"Maybe one day, Ruby. But I really doubt it. Dragons aren't keen on humans coming into town. I think I've only ever heard of it happening, never actually seen it myself." Turning back to his other friends, he saw that they all still had a look of unease on all of their faces as they glanced to each other occasionally and back to him. Letting out a small sigh to himself he took a step forward, causing most of his audience to stiffen as he approached.

"So listen, I want to say that... I'm sorry."

Everyone shared a few confused glances before Yang spoke for them. "What?"

"I'm sorry that I hid this from everyone. I was just... scared of what everyone would think."

"Is it just me or are we experiencing Deja Vu?" Weiss asked as she scratched the side of her head before looking over at Blake out of the corner of her eye.

"J-Jaune... I uh... when we were talking last night..." Pyrrha started, but had trouble finishing her own sentence as her gaze fell to the ground. "I um... I didn't mean what I said about the Beowulf in a human suit thing literally. I'm sorry!"

Jaune just stared at Pyrrha for a brief moment before laughing, drawing even more confusion from the gladiators expression. "What? You thought I'd take offense to that? I mean come on, I'm WAY different from a Beowulf!"

"Y-yes, I understand that... and you don't need to apologize to us! We understand that you were afraid... I mean, how could you not be when you're something that doesn't exist-" She slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide in shock over what she had said. "I'm sorry!"

Jaune waved off her words. "Ah it's no big deal. I don't care if you say that. I mean, us Dragons don't exactly WANT people knowing we exist. I just trusted you all enough to tell you. Right, Yang?" Jaune said, gritting his teeth ever so slightly as he shot an evil eye her way, prompting her to just grin and laugh in response.

"...How come you told Yang first, Jaune?" He glanced down at Ruby, the question catching him off guard a bit.

"Aw what's wrong little sis, jealous?"

Ruby turned around and shot another glare at her sister. "YES."

"Uuh, well, Ruby... I didn't tell Yang. She found out accidentally. She sorta... walked in on me when I was a dragon."

Weiss, Ren and Blake all let out collective sighs at the answer, prompting Jaune's cheeks to redden slightly.

Yang continued eating up the various looks of uncertainty that were still remaining on her friends faces before the arm of her partner brushed against her slightly as she readjusted herself in her seat, prompting a memory from Yang that made her shoot out of her own seat to grab Jaune.

"Oh yeah, there's a little something that we can all thank Jaune for!" She stood up and walked toward Jaune as she spoke, grabbing him by the arm before she began pulling the dragon forward a bit, despite his attempts to resist. This made everyone even more confused as to how a powerful, mighty dragon was being pulled around by a teenager.

"This big guy right here single handedly saved our little lost kitty from the big bad Torchwick!"

Everyone stared blankly at Yang, obviously not picking up what she was throwing down. Jaune decided to cut in and explain it for her. "I saved Blake at the docks."

Blake's eyes widened a bit in response, blinking a few times as they grew larger. She thought back to that night, she remembered being knocked unconscious by Torchwick, a violent crash sound, and then the sounds of Jaune and Yang talking to each other as she began to stir. But all she remembered seeing after she woke up was the crying face of her partner, who hugged her in response. "I-is that why I heard your voice?"

"Heh... yeah... After I saw Torchwick clock you upside the head, he shot an explosive into the nearby shipping containers and made them fall on you. Yang tripped up before she got there, and I sorta swooped in and saved you just before the containers crushed you."

Yang's expression suddenly turned serious for a moment as she remembered that night. "Hey yeah, why did you fly off so suddenly anyway? You looked super pissed at both of us, which I get, but..."

"I wasn't mad at either of you. I heard Torchwick laughing as he was getting away on a bullhead and flew after it." Everyone collectively gasped at the notion of Jaune taking initiative to chase after a dangerous criminal. "Yeah, I sorta ripped open the bullhead and tried to claw his face off. He shot me with some explosives, I fell into the ocean, and swam back to shore. I was going to check up on you guys, but I saw the police lights and decided to just fly back to Beacon."

"Wait a second..." Nora pondered to herself as the gears in her head began turning and turning until finally they clicked together. "YOU WEREN'T STUDYING AT THE LIBRARY THAT NIGHT! YOU WERE BEING THE DARK KNIGHT!"

Jaune took a step back at Nora's outburst. "I uh... yeah okay you caught me."

"You've been off fighting crime as a cool dragon at night and you've left ME out?! I... I don't even know what to say, my heart feels like it's breaking into PIECES! REN GET SOME GLUE!"

Jaune ignored Nora and stepped in front of Pyrrha, the dragon sitting down afterwards with his tail wrapping around his legs. To Yang, this was a clear sign that he was afraid or nervous.

"So uh... Pyrrha..."

She looked up into his eyes, and she was relieved that she was still able to see the same Jaune she knew in those eyes. "Yes, Jaune?"

"I want to say that I'm sorry for not telling you first. You're my partner, and it was wrong of me to keep that secret from you. Moreso than anyone else on our team. Can you forgive me?"

She smiled in response, letting out a soft chuckle as she got up and wrapped her arms around the dragon. "Of course I can. I must say that it will take me some time to get used to this, though."

Jaune returned the hug and glanced over to Ren and Nora. "That apology goes to you guys too. I hope you can forgive me."

Ren and Nora both nodded with smiles on their face before Ren spoke up. "So now that this has all been revealed... What do we do now?" Everyone in the room seemed to be caught off guard by Ren's question, including Jaune himself.

"I... uh... Well, first things first. No telling anybody that I'm a Dragon. Think of it like how Blake doesn't want people knowing..." He paused for a brief moment as he remembered that he wasn't supposed to tell his team that Blake was a Faunus in the first place. "You guys know." He gestured to team RWBY, attempting to divert attention away from himself. Team RWBY seemed to nod in agreement before he continued on.

"Second thing is... nothing really." He took a seat on the ground, his tail wrapping around his legs as he did. "I mean, just treat me like you always have. I'm still the same Jaune... I'm just not a human. That's all."

Weiss leaned forward in her seat, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the dragon in front of her. "With all due respect, Arc, I think that might be harder than you assume it is. After all, I'm still not even entirely sure if this is all some sort of fever dream or not. Or maybe Ruby has just finally driven me to insanity."

He let out a sigh as he switched back into his human form for the last time, his gaze turning to meet the heiress. "I know, Weiss. But so long as nobody says anything, I think we'll be fine. Right?" His eyes scanned over all his friends, with the exception of Yang of course, before he repeated himself. "Right?"

Everyone nodded in return, before Jaune decided that the meeting had gone on long enough. "Alright then. Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna go collapse on my bed and take a nap. Sleep off all the stress."

Everyone else seemed to agree with the notion, as they all began getting up themselves and walking out of the room. "Jaune wait!"

He turned to see Ruby standing in front of him, her face as eager looking as ever. "Can we spar sometime? With you as a dragon I mean."

"Uh, sure Ruby. I don't see why not, I spar with Yang all the time."

A look of realization slowly formed on Ruby's face before it turned into a glare. "YANG! YOU'VE BEEN SNEAKING AWAY TO TRAIN WITH HIM ALL THIS TIME?!" She shouted as she charged out the door, chasing down her sister who had already left.

Jaune let out a laugh as he walked towards the door, as usual he was the last person out.

"Hey, hold up for a second." He paused at the grip on his arm, turning to see that Blake was pulling him back into the training room, the door shutting behind them.

The blush on her face as she did certainly sent the wrong signals to Jaune, who began to panic in his own mind. _"Oh god is this the part where Blake tries to kiss me for saving her or something? No, Jaune... don't fall for it, you like Yang, not Blake!"_

"I wanted to thank you for saving me..."

"Oh god."

Blake cocked an eyebrow as she stared at him. "What?"

Jaune's right eye twitched slightly when he realized he mumbled that out loud. "Nothing. Continue?"

"And... I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did, especially because of the fact that you were right. People will eventually stop discriminating against Faunus... I hope... But people will probably never know about you or your kind. You'll have to hide who you are for the rest of your life."

"Ah, don't worry, Blake. There was no way you could have known, it's not like I was being open about the whole me being a Dragon thing. Besides, what I said was pretty out of line too. It's not really a contest to see who's life is worse. It's all about helping each other make our lives better, right?" Jaune tried to wave the apology off. "Besides, if you should be apologizing for anything, it's how you kept a grudge after everything was said and done."

Blake turned her head away from him and glanced down towards the ground, the comment doing more damage than it was meant to. He quickly scrambled to think of a way to change the subject before he risked ruining his friendship with her yet again.

"...But uh, listen... can I ask you a question, Blake?"

"I suppose, sure."

"If... If I ever have any trouble over dealing with this... the fact that I have to stay hidden... would you mind if maybe I uh, I come talk with you about it? You're the only person who could ever truly understand that isn't a dragon."

Blake's eyes went wide for a moment, her head turning back towards him as her blush grew darker. "Of course, Jaune. Anytime."

He let out a sigh before holding out his hand. "Thanks. So, are we friends again?"

She smiled at him in return before taking his hand. "Friends."

Jaune watched as Blake turned and began walking out of the room, with him making to follow her until she stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh... And uh, this is for saving me." She mumbled as she turned and quickly leaned into him, her lips pressing against his cheek for only a fraction of a millisecond. But the sensation was enough to cause both of their faces to deepen into a shade of crimson.

"Don't read into that."

"Yes Ma'am." He replied as he rubbed the spot where her lips had previously been. He quickly pushed passed her and bolted out the door before his mouth, or his thoughts, got him into a situation he wouldn't want to be in.

Blake let out a sigh as she followed, only to have her arm grabbed and yanked to the side rather forcefully. "Hey, what the hell is your- Yang?"

Yang was sporting a grin, her eyes closed as she faced her partner. It was very unsettling for some reason. "Heya, Blakey. Watcha doing pullin' Jaune back into the training room all alone, huh?"

"I was just... thanking him and apologizing, that's all."

"Ooh, that's all hm? Anything else? What about that little kiss?"

Blake groaned and rolled her eyes before they narrowed at her partner. "Knock it off, Yang. It was just a peck on the cheek as a thank you. Just because he saved me doesn't mean I'm going to fall head over heels for him."

"Good." Yang replied as her eyes opened, her eyes narrowing as they did.

Blake's eyebrows cocked a bit as her head tilted to the side slightly. "Good?"

"Yeah. Good. Because he's mine." Yang responded before stepping passed Blake, eager to catch up with her prey.

Blake simply stood in the same spot and watched her partner leave, a look of shock on her face that seemed to be even more expressive than when she saw Jaune transform into a dragon.


	22. Arcadia

Yang had caught up to Jaune just in time for him to break off from the rest of the group. He was apparently deciding to take a detour to the public bathrooms instead of heading back to his dorm. Following closely behind him, she watched as he turned a corner sharply ahead of her, which was just before the bathrooms.

"Where is he going...?" She whispered to herself as she turned the same corner that he had.

She nearly crashed into him face first, just barely stopping right in front of his face. A sly smirk was spread on his face, though his confidence was betrayed by the slight shade of pink on his cheeks. "Hey Yang. Fancy meeting you here?"

"Uuh, yup. Just had to uh, go to the bathroom! Couldn't wait until I got back to the room, y'know."

Jaune nodded a few times before speaking further, his sly grin not giving an inch. "Yeah, yeah I know that feeling. So is there a reason why you're following me instead of going to relieve yourself?"

"Uuh, well y'know... I uh... I just wanted to see how you were doing after all that! Y'know, make sure you weren't vomiting or something from your nerves. And I can see you're not so uh, I'll just be going now!" She turned to walk away, but stopped when she found the back of her scarf being grabbed and pulled back, the fabric wrapping around her neck as it was.

"Woah hold on there, Yang. I think you're forgetting something."

She turned around, his hand releasing its grip on her scarf as she did. "Uh, what am I forgetting exactly?"

"I think you owe me something for telling all of our friends my little secret, don't you?"

Her face contorted into a grin, one that looked as if a predator had just cornered her prey. This grin was what made Jaune's falter just a little bit, his face turning a deeper shade of pink. "Oh yeah. I guess I do, don't I? Well, name your price, mister." She teased as she took a step forward and placed a hand on his chest.

Jaune pulled at the neck of his shirt, did it suddenly just get REALLY hot in the halls? "I uh... I believe you owe me a date, Ms. Xiao Long."

Her grin shrunk just barely, but it remained large regardless. "Hmm. I believe I do, don't I? Why don't we get started on that?" Her hand suddenly dug into the fabric of his shirt, pulling him forward.

"Uh wait right now?!"

"No time like the present, Noodle Boy! So come on, sweep me off my feet and whisk me away to the arcade!"

As the blonde brawler pulled the human dragon through the halls, he had lost himself in a sea of confused babbling, unable to pay attention to his surroundings until Yang shouted in frustration.

"Oh COME ON! Where are the bullheads?!"

Jaune snapped out of his confused babbling to see that true to her words, there were no bullheads anywhere on the landing area. It was completely devoid of anyone at all in fact. While that would normally prove to be quite problematic, Jaune simply let out a laugh in response.

"Are you forgetting about who you're going on a date with, Yang?"

Jaune shifted into his speed form, lowering himself down next to the blonde while sporting a smug grin. "I think I'm little better than some bucket of bolts bullhead. So hop on board!"

Yang eyed him up and down for a few seconds before she let out a laugh of her own. "Ooh such a gentleman!" Hopping onto his back, she gave his neck a few pats to let him know that she was situated and that he could take off.

And before she knew it, she felt the wind whipping at her face. She had to blink a few times to adjust, she never even felt him get into a flight position before he took off. Just how fast was Jaune really? Hopefully not fast in bed... She smacked herself in the face for thinking of that at a time like this, instead focusing her mind on the now rapidly approaching city of Vale.

It didn't take long for them to reach the arcade, though they had to fly into a nearby alley so nobody would catch sight of a dragon turning into a human. As the two walked up to the arcade, Jaune gulped nervously, thinking that he wouldn't screw this up. Hopefully. As the two entered the establishment, they both procured two plastic cards that they had taken with them the last time they were there.

"Yang, gimme your card for a sec." He held out his hand as he spoke, earning him a confused look from her.

"Uh, why? I've still got credits left on this."

"Just gimme." He snatched the card from her hand before walking over to a strange looking machine where he inserted it, the machine accepting it with a loud click. Following up with this, Jaune procured his wallet from his pocket and pulled out a few lien, pushing them into a separate slot on the machine as well. A few button presses later, and Yang's card was spit out back into Jaune's hand.

"Alright, there ya go."

Yang accepted the card before puffing out her cheeks a bit. "Aaaw, thats sho shweet! Paying for your date so she doesn't have to! What a gentleman!"

Jaune rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah I'm the nicest guy ever. C'mon, let's go find something to play."

"Ain't arguing with that idea!" She responded as she grabbed hold of his hand and dragged him deep into the arcade.

"Haha! Eat it, zombies!"

Jaune watched as Yang blew the head off of another undead human as it shambled close to the screen, with about a dozen more shambling in closely behind it. "Why is this fun? Like, can't we just go out and shoot some Grimm to the same effect?"

"Aw come on, there aren't zombie Grimm or anything. Besides, this isn't endangering our lives either." Yang quickly gunned down three more undead as she spoke, her attention not leaving the screen.

"Well, you got me there."

"How about you pick up a gun and help me out then?" Yang quipped as she shot down some sort of... zombie gargoyle? Or was that some kind of demon? He really didn't get this game at all.

"Uh, I think I'll wait until you're at the next checkpoint. Y'know, so I can ease into it better."

Yang simply shrugged in response without breaking eye contact with the screen. Jaune continued to watch Yang play, though his eyes weren't fixed on the screen. No, his eyes found themselves wandering, something that he was silently cursing himself for, but did nothing to actually correct the issue. His eyes started at her feet, clad in her regular boots, before they slowly began rising up her smooth, milky legs. His eyes came to rest on her thighs, toned and yet still somehow soft looking. His eyes once again continued traveling upwards slowly before he paused for a moment. Yang's body moved as she pulled the plastic gun closer to herself, having to point it away from the screen in order to reload her supply of bullets. Although the action was far more dramatized then it should have been as she practically hugged the piece of plastic to herself, with Jaune noticing how her breasts seemingly wrapped themselves-

"No. Stop. That's enough ogling for now, Jaune Jr." He growled to himself as he chastised his lower brain for temporarily taking control of his entire body without his consent.

Shortly after that brief loss in control, Jaune decided to pick up the second gun and begin playing himself. Best to provide a distraction before he began ogling his date again. Yang was a person you did NOT want to be caught ogling. Not only because she could easily pound you into dust, but because she could just as easily prey on that weakness and show off more just to drive you insane. But at least he was finding the game fun. And his date fun too, even though they had been playing this machine for about half their visit so far.

A few more games later, Jaune and Yang found themselves standing in front of the dance machine that they had used during their first visit.

"You don't want to dance?" He cocked an eyebrow at the blonde. She seemed to be upset that they tied before, and had demanded a rematch. But now she was saying that she didn't want to?

"Nah, I'm taking a break. Why don't you enjoy yourself for a bit and maybe we can get to that rematch." She responded with a smile, one that didn't seem to drip with any hidden meaning.

Shrugging, Jaune took her suggestion to heart as he stepped on to the metal panel and selected a song. Of course, unbeknownst to him he was completely wrong about Yang not having any kind of hidden agenda with her refusal to dance. While it is true that many men and women alike have been caught staring at the blonde brawler, let it be known that she herself is not above doing the staring. In fact, she loves checking out others. She isn't petty as to judge people completely on their looks, but she does enjoy some good eye candy every now and again. And right now? Oh she was enjoying herself quite a lot.

After all, Jaune had gotten his fill of her body when she was playing a game earlier. She had become a professional when it came to spotting wandering eyes, and she had caught him red... pupiled? Whatever, point is she caught him without even batting an eye. And now she was getting her fill as she watched the blonde dragon in human form dance in front of her. She leaned against one of the nearby machines as she held a her chin in her hand, her eyes narrowing into a rather lecherous stare as they directed themselves to her dates rear, which was now in motion. And she had to admire it, it was really nice and toned. She could see why Pyrrha had spent so much time chasing after it.

Oh well, she snoozed, she losed. Or something like that.

"So did you want to dance now?"

Yang nearly jumped out of her skin when Jaune spoke to her. She hadn't noticed that the song had ended and he had turned around to look at her. "Uh... No thanks, I think I'm a bit too tired. You can go again if you want though, I don't care."

"Heh, nah I think I've had my fill." He didn't notice Yang silently pout at his words. "How about we go get a bite to eat before we head back to Beacon?"

"Ooh, taking me to the arcade and then buying me dinner? You're going all out for a first date. I like it."

Jaune had managed to find a nice little cafe run by a rather friendly old man that he swore looked a little bit like the one running the prize counter in the arcade. Vale was a really small town despite it being a whole kingdom, wasn't it? The two of them sat down and each ordered a drink before they began browsing through the menu.

"So uh, what do you do in your spare time?" The question was innocent enough. Small talk still wasn't his forte though.

"Well, aside from training, I guess just lounging around. I am pretty damn good at fighting games though, but I'm sure you noticed that." Her face contorted into a smug grin, obviously hinting at the twenty or so matches they had at the arcade. Jaune lost every single one.

"Yeah. I noticed. ...Is there anything on TV you like to watch?"

Yang took a swig of her soda before responding. "Mmm, not really. Although there is this new cartoon that's pretty funny called Camp Camp."

"Cartoons huh? Aren't you a little old for those?"

"Pff. You're only as old as you feel." She scoffed as she leaned back in her seat. A question popped into her head that she hadn't ever thought to ask. There were a lot of those popping into her head lately. "Speaking of age, how do dragons age?"

Jaune opened his mouth to speak, but found that he didn't actually have an answer. "Uh... I don't know, actually. I think the oldest dragon in our village is like... one hundred and seventy years old?"

"WHAT?!"

"Give or take?"

Yang found herself sliding down her chair a bit. He was going to live that long? Well, there was always the chance that... no, he would definitely live to be his maximum age. But, that was far longer than she could ever hope to live. What would happen if they clicked more than they already have, and they totally fell head over heels for each other? She would watch him outlive her, and then have to go on to live practically another lifetime without her. Was that a fate she really wanted to subject him to?

If she was selfish enough, yes. But she has still hasn't seen how selfish she wanted to be.

"Heh. That's uh... that's a long time."

"Yeah, but I think the max a dragon can live is... maybe two hundred? The elders look like sacks of bones already at one seventy. I think Reus is around ninety-something, and he looks like he could be Headmaster Ozpin's age."

"Uuh. Yeah, cool. Let's change the subject." Yang pulled her menu up in front of her face as if it were a shield. "So uh, what are you gonna get?"

"Well I was thinking of-" He was cut off by the waiter approaching, the young woman giving them a cheery smile as she asked if they were ready to order.

"Well, I dunno about him, but I am! I'm gonna have a good ol' fashion burger!" She couldn't help but notice Jaune chuckling silently into his hand before he looked up at the waitress.

"That actually sounds pretty good, I'll have one too."

The waitress nodded as she wrote down their orders. "And how would you like that cooked?"

"Well done!" Both of them said in unison.

Jaune slapped his hand over his mouth, his cheeks turning pink. Yang meanwhile, just laughed as the waitress walked away. "I guess we're pretty in tune, huh?"

"Uh... Yeah. I didn't think you'd be into well done meat." He noticed that she began leaning forward, her eyebrows waggling suggestively. "And I mean that food wise."

"Yeah, well, I don't like the idea of my meat being undercooked. Freaks me out. Germs, y'know? Ruby likes her medium, and she tries to tease me about getting mine well done."

"Guess you could say she has a BEEF with your preferences, huh?"

She stared at him silently for a few seconds, her expression completely blank. "Did I uh... not have good timing?" His question was answered when Yang began giggling uncontrollably, making him smile in relief.

"That was awful. But it was my kind of awful. Keep it up, Jaune. We'll turn you into a pun-isher just like me!"

"Wait hold on I don't get it, why did you say it like- Oh."

The two of them soon got their food and began digging in. Yang was especially appreciative of the fact that she was eating with someone who wasn't Weiss for a change. Because all Weiss would do is end up complaining about the quality of the food, or in Yang's case, chastise her for eating things that "shorten her life span" as the Ice Queen put it. Yang was physically fit. She was active. She could eat whatever she wanted and just do three times the work to burn it off later, it wouldn't kill her. Jaune was good at going with the flow though, something she gave him a ton of respect for since she considered herself a pro at doing so.

Once the two of them had finished their meals, Jaune made sure to leave a decent tip for the waitress as they left. "Paying for my dinner too? You're just earning points all around, aren'tcha, Jauney?"

"Well, I am the guy."

She rolled her eyes. "Pfff. This is modern times we're in, Jaune. Not the stone age. I can pay for my own meal."

"It's not about whether or not you can pay for it, I'm the one who asked you out. So I'm the one who's gonna pay. Whether my date wants me to or not." He waggled his eyebrows proudly at her, something that briefly caught her off guard before she smirked in return.

"So, how about we see how a Dragon with his stomach full flies, huh?"

"Is that code for "I'm going to vomit while we're flying" or something?"

His face flushed as he began furiously denying the question. "NO! I just meant... oh nevermind. Come on." He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the alley near the cafe, making sure that nobody was around to see them.

"Ooh, Jaune. So bold. What are people going to think when they see us doing something like this in an alley?"

One burst of fire later, and Yang was face to face with a dragon. "They're going to think "Oh my god is that a dragon? Holy crap!" and run away?"

"Tch. You're no fun." She quipped as she hopped onto his back, again finding them in the air before she even had time to properly adjust themselves.

Once the two of them returned to Beacon, they made their way back to their dorms. As the two stood in front of each of their respective rooms, Yang noticed that Jaune was a bit anxious. "Well, that was a great first date. I had a lot of fun, so thanks!"

"Heh... Don't mention it! I'd uh, I'd love to go out again sometime. If that's okay with you that is."

Yang placed a finger up to her chin as she stared at the ceiling, being sure to wait just long enough to make him nervous. "Yeah, I think I could totally see us being a regular thing."

"I... uh... what? You mean?"

"Hehe, yep!" In a strange display, Yang brought her thumb up to her lips, kissing it very loudly before she leaned forward and brushed it against the side of Jaune's nose. "Night, Jaune!" She added before she turned and opened the door to her room, stepping inside and quickly shutting the door behind her before he even had a chance to respond.

Jaune stared blankly at the door in front of him for quite some time before his hand reached up to his nose, rubbing the spot where Yang's thumb had brushed over.

"I'm never washing my nose again."


	23. Cooked Goose

Jaune sat at the lunch table and found himself engaged in a conversation with Yang about a few new ideas she had to incorporate some of his dragon abilities into his human fighting style. One of which sounded super cool, since she suggested maybe lighting his sword on fire. For him, it was a euphoric feeling to be able to freely talk to Yang in front of their friends about his draconic nature. He would have to remember to thank Yang later for forcing him to tell everyone. It was an underhanded tactic, yes, but in the end it benefited him more than anything else. In more ways than just one. But for a brief moment, Jaune broke eye contact with Yang when he caught sight of everyone around him.

Everyone was staring at him as if he had grown a second head, even while they were eating. Well, with the exception of Ruby and Nora. Nora carried on as if nothing had ever been revealed, and Ruby just seemed to have a... rather disturbing look of joy on her face whenever she looked at him. All of these things combined were really starting to unnerve him. Yang never really gave him any odd looks, only the occasional subtle wink. His thoughts were pushed aside though, as he watched Yang wave a hand in front of Weiss's face.

"Weiss? Hellooo? Remnant to Ice Queen!"

Weiss blinked a few times before slapping Yang's hand away, a look of annoyance plastered firmly on her face. "What?"

"I said maybe Jaune could help you melt that ice around your heart with his dragon fire!"

Weiss simply let out a grunt in disgust before turning away from her, arms folded. Yang smiled at the gesture, but as her eyes scanned the table she could easily pick out the tension in the air. Most notably, everyone staring intently at Jaune.

"Hey guys, if you like looking at Jaune so much, why don't you just take a picture?"

Everyone stopped to look at Yang, a serious look of annoyance spread on her face. "What? I see you staring at the guy. Just give him some space."

Surprisingly, Weiss was the first to speak up. "It's a little hard to not be uneasy around the person who has been lying about his identity since he came here." She saw Blake wince out of the corner of her eye. "Apologies, Blake. I was not referring to you. You are a Faunus, but Arc is a Dragon. A creature that I, as well as the rest of Remnant, believed to be a myth."

Her gaze also set itself back on Jaune. "And I apologize to you, Ar... I mean, Jaune. But surely you must understand that a few of us are uneasy about that fact. After all, we know much about the Grimm and Faunus, but nothing about Dragons."

"Uh... I guess I understand that."

"I'm glad to hear that. Because I certainly don't understand a lot about what has been revealed to us." Weiss retorted with an icy tone before she returned to eating, leaving the rest of the table in an uneasy silence before Ruby remembered something.

"Ooh! That's right!" Ruby shouted before hopping to her feet and taking off. Everyone glanced at each other in confusion before another short gust of wind let them know that Ruby had returned, and with her she brought a large binder that she crudely plopped down onto the table. She cleared her throat for a brief moment before she began to speak. "Sisters... friends... Weiss."

"Hey!"

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

Yang rolled her eyes for a brief moment. "This oughta be good."

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!"

Weiss eyed the binder closely for a moment before she gave their leader a skeptical look. "Did you steal my binder?"

Ruby bent forward a bit, both of her hands forming peace signs with her index and ring fingers. "I am not a crook!"

Blake leaned her cheek against her hand as she began growing impatient. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about kicking off this semester with a bang!"

Yang leaned forward at that statement, a grin plastered on her face. "I like to kick of my semesters with a YANG!" Glancing around the table, she saw everyone groaning with the exception of Jaune, who covered his hand with his mouth in an attempt to stifle his chuckle. She was about to say something when Nora booed her and tossed an apple her way, bopping her face with it. Yang shot a small glare her way in response.

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today."

Weiss placed a hand on her chin as she stared at the binder. "I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store."

Blake looked a bit uneasy as she shuffled in her seat a bit. "I don't know. I think I might sit this one out."

Weiss folded her arms and glanced at her teammate, cocking an eyebrow as she did. "Sit out or not, I think that however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team! And I for one think that-"

Weiss was never able to finish her sentence, as a rather large pie was flung into her face.

Jaune had no idea what had happened after that, but in a flash of white the entire mess hall was turned upside down and he was standing in front of a huge structure created from tables and chairs, with Nora laughing maniacally on top of it. Once she started singing about how she was Queen of the Castle, he glanced around to see his friends arming themselves with various food that they could find around what was left of the mess hall. Scrambling to find a "weapon" fitting of him, he managed to find a oversized piece of mutton along with a... even more oversized pie. Holding the pie like a shield, he glanced over at team RWBY who seemed to be opposing them.

Yang let out a laugh as she watched team JNPR arming themselves with food, a grin sporting her face as she turned to her own team. But her grin faltered when she saw the uneasy looks on their faces.

"The heck's wrong with you guys? We've got a food fight to win!"

Blake nervously rubbed an arm with her opposite hand as she glanced over at Jaune. "And they have a Dragon on their side. I don't like our odds."

"Pffff. You guys are scared of JAUNE now?! Wow. Meanwhile he's probably over there shaking in his boots at the thought of fighting ME!"

Ruby perked up first, bending down to pick up a carton of milk. "She's right! We can do this! Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" To emphasize her point, Ruby crushed the carton, spraying milk everywhere. "It will be DELICIOUS!"

"YEAH!" The rest of Team RWBY cried out as they all surged onto the field of battle, with Yang picking out her first target.

She hit the ground rolling, her hands finding their way into two turkeys before she finished her roll on her feet. She made a mad dash for the blonde noodle she had gone on a date with just yesterday, her fist flying right towards his face. She found her attack blocked by the pie that he had picked up earlier, their food based weaponry holding up only because of the aura that now surged through it.

"Y'know, this reminds me of something..." Jaune quipped before he swung his mutton at her head.

She quickly ducked under the blow and followed up with a right hook to his face, which she found blocked by his shield yet again. As she ducked under another swing from his sword, she couldn't help but recall how much she actually hated going up against Jaune, mostly because of the fact that when he showed signs of competence in battle, he could block almost all of her attacks. Although there was one place where she knew the swordsman forgot to guard well. Glancing down at his legs, she licked her lips as she crouched under yet another attack and spun her right leg, kicking out Jaune's own legs from underneath him.

As he collapsed onto the table he was standing on, he felt a weight crash down on top of him as a follow up. His eyes fluttered open, only to be met with the smiling face of Yang who was now sitting on his chest, turkey clad hands folded down in front of her skirt. Of course, just being that close to the forbidden lands was more than enough to send Jaune into a stuttering frenzy.

"Uuh, Y-Yang what are you uh d-d-doing?"

"What's it look like? I'm winning this fight." She replied with a wink as she lifted her hands up...

...And began pummeling his face into the table. Jaune took the severe punishment, unable to lift Yang's weight off of his body while simultaneously having his face beaten into the table. Until he had finally gotten the idea to sprout his tail, launching both him and Yang up into the air momentarily. As the two touched down on the ground, Jaune stumbled forward and began slashing furiously at Yang. Though the attacks were well placed, he found each blow blocked by her... turkeys. He was also just now realizing how weird today was turning out. He was in a sword fight, using a mutton and pie as weapons, to fight his friend who was using two turkeys.

While their fight had been going on, a war had been raging on around them. With the remaining members of both team JNPR and team RWBY clashing with each other up until they witnessed Jaune and Yang explode off of one of the tables before righting themselves. All six teenagers engaged in a temporary cease fire as they watched their comrades furiously attack each other in a dance of death. Well, fake death.

"Uh. Should we stop them? I think they're taking this a little bit too far." Weiss suggested as she fumbled around with the swordfish she had picked up earlier.

"Taking it too far? They're not taking it FAR ENOUGH!" Nora shouted in response as she surged forward and slammed both Weiss and Ruby with the strange watermelon mallet that she had created by stabbing a metal pole into said melon, sending the two of them flying backwards.

Blake instinctively flipped back to avoid the dual strike made by both Pyrrha and Ren, making sure to leap far enough behind so that she would wind up next to her friends as they recovered from Nora's attack. As the two got back up and dusted themselves off, they let out another war cry as they charged forward and met with team JNPR once more.

Jaune found himself landing a perfect stab right into Yang's gut, the force of the blow sending her back a step. The resulting red that flashed into Yang's eyes let him know that he had hit a sour spot. Either that or Yang was getting angry over the fact that he was beginning to actually hit her in combat. Her right hand surged forward, with Jaune only being able to barely react to the attack and block it with his shield, the hit sending him tumbling backwards. He just barely managed to roll to his feet again before he felt Yang crack him upside the head with an uppercut, sending him up into the air and soon back onto the table once more.

Yang stood over him, her eyes blazing red with a triumphant smirk on her face. Just before she went to sit back down on his chest, he sprung his trap. His tail snaked out from behind him and wrapped itself around her left leg, pulling it backward and forcing Yang to lose her balance. She toppled over, but unfortunately for him he didn't think his plan all the way through as she fell right on top of him.

Let it be known however, that Jaune Arc was not an entirely unlucky man. As he found his face buried within the heavenly valley that he had been eyeing just the other day. And despite the fact that it was covered with her school uniform, he could feel the softness all the same. This was yet another moment that he wanted to last forever.

"Heads up!"

Unfortunately for him, the moment did not. As he heard Nora shouting to him, he felt Yang fly off of his body. Watching with his own two eyes, he saw Yang flipped up into the air and struck with a heavy upwards swing from Nora, sending the blonde brawler up through the ceiling.

"NORA! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" He shouted as he scrambled to his feet, half enraged that she ruined the moment and half worried that she might have actually hurt Yang.

"Ah relax, she'll be fiiiine. Besides, we're winning! Look!" Nora pointed her finger towards the opposite end of cafeteria, where Blake and Weiss were both out of commission as well, leaving only the red reaper left to oppose them.

As team JNPR gathered together to deal their finishing blow, they noticed that Ruby had hopped onto the table and was charging straight for them. Jaune was the only one to notice, however, the fact that she was picking up speed. A dangerous amount of speed too, as rose petals began trailing behind her. And then, a loud crash came from behind her as she set off a sonic boom.

Ruby flew through the air towards them, her body twirling as she did. The resulting force kicked up a huge tornado that spiraled towards team JNPR! Thinking quickly, Jaune completely shifted into his Power form and began flapping his wings as hard as he could. The tornado clashed with the winds produced by his own wings, and for a brief moment Jaune felt as though he would be swept away regardless. But with one last mighty gust, his wings batted the tornado back towards Ruby, who shouted in terror as it not only swept her up, but also swept up Weiss, Blake and a ton of food. All three of them splattered against the wall behind them, a rainbow of colors painting both them and the side of the cafeteria they were on.

Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren all stared in disbelief for a few moments before they jumped into the air, cheering in victory. Although their cheering was interrupted by the sounds of Yang crashing through the ceiling and landing next to the remains of her own team, startling Jaune enough to make him shift back into human form.

As they went to help team RWBY up after their brief ride in the eye of the storm, Professor Glynda burst through the doors of the cafeteria, pushing aside two other students as she held out her riding crop. The entire cafeteria sprang to life, as food, furniture and even pieces of the broken structure itself began to animate and reassemble in their proper place. Jaune marveled at the sight of such a powerful semblance before his eyes drifted over to the two students that the professor had rudely pushed aside. One looked like that monkey guy, Sun, that he had met previously and the other was some way too cool looking guy with blue hair and goggles.

"YOU BIG CHEATER!" Ruby shouted as she pushed Jaune onto his rear, earning a laugh from him.

"What are you talking about? I didn't cheat!"

"You used your dragon powers! We woulda won if you didn't!"

Yang stepped over to the pair, her arms crossed. "Really Jaune? You gotta one up my lil sis with your fancy dragon powers?"

"Hey! You guys were using all your semblances!"

Nora appeared behind her leader, wrapping an arm around his neck a bit too tightly as she began defending him. "YEAH! You guys have all your crazy overpowered semblances! Us having commander Dragon Jaune is leveling the playing field!"

As both teams began arguing amongst themselves, Glynda and Ozpin watched on, talking to each other as they did.

"Let it go, Glynda."

Glynda let out a sigh as she turned to Ozpin. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

Ozpin simply smiled back, before raising a hand towards said defenders. "And they will be, but right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part?" He turned and began to walk towards the door, before turning his head back towards her to offer one more comment. "After all, it isn't a role they'll get to have forever."

Glynda's expression softened slightly as she turned back to the group of teenagers, all laughing as Yang smashed Jaune's pie shield into his face.

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, that is until the two students from before walked up to them. Jaune instantly recognized the first as Sun, the monkey faunus from a few days prior who had been hanging out with Blake.

"DID YOU JUST TURN INTO A FREAKIN' DRAGON?!"

"Oh boy." Yang sighed as she rolled her eyes.

Jaune meanwhile, could only pray that the day wouldn't get any worse than this.

* * *

The moonlight shined through the open window of the warehouse, lighting up the couch that had been crudely plopped into the middle of it. A figure lounging on it as they brought something to their mouth.

Roman took another puff of his cigar, moving it away from his mouth afterwards so he could exhale deeply. The week had gone fairly normal by his standards for once. His men robbed a few more stores, he got some rather fancy new clothes, and he even got a little frisky with-

The door slammed open as two individuals entered the warehouse, a tan young women with light green hair and a paler young man with silvery grey slowly strolling their way towards him. As he got off the couch to greet his new guests, a smile slithered its way onto his face as he held out his arms, sweeping the two into a short hug as they closed the distance between each other. "Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce!"

The girl shivered in his grip, a look of disgust rolling over her face. Though curiously, Roman noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of her pocket that looked rather important. With a flick of his wrist and a few subtle movements, the paper was snatched from her pocket and was now lining his. Without even noticing, the girl spoke to him as she and the boy pulled themselves from his grip. "Spare us the thought of you procreating."

"That was a joke. And this..." He procured the slip of paper from his pocket and dangled it in front of them. "just might tell me where you two have been all day."

The green haired girl let out a yelp in surprise as she reached into her pocket, seeing that Roman was now holding the paper that should have been there. He gave her a sly smirk in response before tipping his hat. "I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, maybe you'll learn something." His gaze turned to the paper, which he unfolded before reading. His eyes widened a bit as he read a rather specific address. "Why do you have this address?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The girl responded with a smug smirk.

"Yeah, I would. Now tell me where you've been all day."

"Cleaning up your problems. One of them at least."

"Problems? What the hell are you talking about, I wasn't supposed to do anything at this address."

"So are you just stupid, or forgetful? Or both?" The girl responded with an even smugger looking grin. The boy next to her even began chuckling a bit.

"Listen, you little street rat. If it were up to me, then I would take you and your little nutjob of a friend here and..."

"And do what, Roman?"

"Cinder!" The green haired girl exclaimed as they turned to see a woman in a short red dress walking up behind them, a stern glare on her face as her two subjects parted ways and allowed her to get uncomfortably close to Roman.

"Aheh... And... NOT kill them?"

"I thought I made it clear that you would eliminate the would-be runaway."

"Uh... no? You told me to lay low, remember? And that's what I've been doing. Laying low."

She stepped closer, her gaze piercing through his very being. "Then why did you not send one of your men?"

"Uh, because they're busy stealing all the dust in the kingdom for you?"

"Are you giving me excuses, Roman?"

His eyes narrowed a bit as he took a step back. "I wouldn't dream of it. Just following orders."

Cinder's eyes narrowed in turn before she glanced back at the two behind her. "Emerald, Mercury. I trust your operation went well?"

"Of course. It went off without a hitch."

"Very good. However, you will be following Roman's orders from now on. We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves, after all."

Emerald bowed her head a bit in response. "Yes Ma'am, of course."

"Kiss up." Emerald elbowed Mercury crudely in the rib before Cinder turned back to Roman.

"As for why I am here... well, I have another job for you, Roman. Or rather, someone you know."

Roman cocked an eyebrow in response, taking another puff of his cigar as he did. "Well, shoot."

"We have need of your... prized possession."

Roman's eyebrow raised further before his eyes glanced around. "Dunno what you're talking about."

Cinder smirked as she took a step towards him, her hand reaching for his shoulder. He instinctively inched it back, but allowed her hand to rest on his shoulder regardless. "Come now, don't play coy. My informant is a very... detailed one. She has eyes and ears everywhere. Now, please call her for me."

Roman's eyes glanced over to Cinder's lackeys before they returned to the master herself. Sighing, he pulled the cigar out of his mouth before taking a step back. "Neo? Where you at?" He called out into the warehouse.

A few moments went by in complete silence before Cinder grew impatient. "Roman, I've had enough of your games where-"

"AGH!"

Cinder turned when she heard Emerald cry out in shock, apparently having been nudged forward by a person that had entered the room without being noticed. Once Emerald had moved, Cinder was able to take in the girl that stood before them all. She was short, to say the least. A full head shorter than Emerald was. Her hair was long and quite oddly colored, with one half being pink and the other being brown. Her eyes also seemed to match, although for a brief moment she could have swore that this new persons eyes changed colors for just a second. Her outfit also matched her hair, a small jacket, the main coloring of it being white with a pink trim. She seemed to be wearing some sort of corset underneath it, that exposed her bare hips before it ended at brown pants that trailed down to white boots.

The girl stepped forward, a smile on her face as she began twirling a pink umbrella in her hands. The smile proved to be infectious as both Roman and Cinder smiled in turn. The girl named Neo stepped up to Roman, turning to face Cinder as she buried her back into Roman's front, her parasol being shoved into his face rather crudely. Though he didn't dare speak out against it.

"Ah, there you are, Neo. My informant has told me much about you and your... skills."

Neo's smile did not falter as she politely curtsied in front of Cinder. "We are in need of said skills. But first I must ask you an important question."

Neo tilted her head in response and placed an index finger up to her lips. "Tell me, Neo. Do you believe in Fairy Tales?"

Neo did not move, not an inch. She blinked a few times before removing the finger from her lips, a smile making its way back onto her face as she nodded her head once. Cinder smiled in return, her eyes glowing a bit as she opened her mouth to speak again. "I suppose you would, given who you are."

Cinder's smirk grew wider as Neo's own smile faltered and slowly melted into a glare.

"Uh, Neo? What's she talking about?" Roman was quickly muted when she shoved her parasol deeper into his face.

Cinder's eyes glowed even brighter than before as she spoke. "Ah, don't be alarmed. This has nothing to do with you personally. But I would like to ask you a question, Neo." Neo did not move in response, her glare being held firm on the red clad woman in front of her.

"How would you like to kill a Dragon?"

Neo blinked a few times, her face going blank in surprise.

Shortly before her expression curled into a manic grin, her eyes dilating as she licked her lips a few times.


	24. Friendly Chat

Sun let out a shriek as he was slammed up against the concrete wall outside of the cafeteria, with a hand wrapped firmly around his neck that was threatening to crush his wind pipe. He gazed fearfully into two glowing red orbs that threatened to rip his soul out of his body.

Alright, he was being dramatic. In reality, Blake's crazy friend Yang had quickly shoved him and his friend outside before grabbing both of them by the necks. She then showcased her terrifying strength by pinning both of them painfully against the wall.

Sun found his eyes darting around, trying to find a way out of this situation, when his gaze settled upon the other blonde he had only met a few days ago. And under bad circumstances at that.

"Yang what the heck are you doing to them?!" He cried as he ran up to Yang. Apparently he was friends with her, too.

Sun could feel the hand wrapped around his neck tightening a bit before the girl turned to answer him. "I'm just having a friendly chat with our new... uh... friends?" The hand tightened once more at the mention of the word friend.

"Last time I checked, talking to people doesn't involve wrapping your hands around their windpipes!"

Sun took in a quick breath of relief as the hand around his neck loosened a bit, though not enough for him to even think about struggling.

"I just want to be sure we're all clear on what they saw in there, that's all."

"I get that, Yang... But..." Jaune paused for a moment as he glanced over at the two unfortunate souls that Yang had gotten a hold of. He quickly took notice of something alarming about the one that he didn't recognize. "OH MY GOD THAT GUYS FACE IS TURNING AS BLUE AS HIS HAIR!"

Yang blinked before her eyes turned to the blue haired friend of Sun, only to see that Jaune was correct in his observation that his face was indeed as blue as his hair. She let out a low growl in defeat as she released both boys. Both of them fell to the ground with a thud, with Sun noticing that his friend was doing his best to crawl away from the blonde who had nearly choked him to death. He couldn't blame the guy. He also couldn't blame him for letting out a sissy shriek when Yang stomped in front of him, cutting off his escape route.

Jaune ran over to Yang, flailing his arms wildly in front of her as he did. "Woah woah, Yang, please just calm down! Let me try to explain it to them first!" He flinched when Yang's head turned so quickly that he could have swore he heard some of the bones in her neck crackle as if she were stretching.

"...Fine." She took a few steps back before she punched her open left palm with her right fist. "Make it a bad explanation though, so I can have my turn."

Jaune rolled his eyes as he stepped over to Sun, crouching down as he stopped in front of him. He looked Sun in the eyes for a moment before he spoke. "Alright so, I guess you already know that I'm a dragon." Sun stayed silent, nodding his head a few times as he tried to calm himself down.

"Okay well, you can't tell anyone about that. It's a secret, got it?"

Sun blinked once before he lifted a hand to scratch the side of his head. "Oh. So you mean like how Bla- uh... I mean I have a friend who has a secret like yours, so I totally get that, dude."

Jaune smiled as he held a hand up in front of Sun's face. "Right, thanks. So you'll understand when I say that if anyone else finds out..." His hand shifted into a claw, causing the color to drain from Sun's face.

Before Sun could even open his mouth, a hand slapped itself over it and silenced him as the blue haired guy rushed to his side. "Yep! We totally get it, won't say a word! Cross our hearts and hope to... uh... we won't tell anyone we swear."

Sun pushed the hand away from his mouth and pulled his friend closer to him, whispering into his ear. "Dude, what are you doing? Scarlet and Sage TOTALLY have to meet this guy!"

Sun's friend leaned in and whispered back into Sun's ear. "I'm thinking with my head so you don't get it chopped off or something! Along with yours!"

"They're whispering to each other."

Both of them froze up when they saw Yang cracking her knuckles, her eyes glowing a dangerous shade of red. Sun was the first to speak up in their defense. "O-o-only about how we both totally won't say anything because we value our lives, right buddy?"

Sun's friend scrambled to his feet quickly, while also simultaneously trying to pull Sun up with him. "Right! And we were also saying how we were going to leave and think about how you'll probably find us if we do talk! So we're going to leave now and not talk about anything that happened here today. Ever. Nice meeting you!"

With that said, the blue haired teen grabbed Sun and took off running, the two of them doing their best not to trip over the other as they ran.

Yang and Jaune watched the two of them run off before they turned to each other. "So uh... how was that threat?"

Yang smiled and gave him a thumbs up in return. "Pretty good, but I saw your hand shaking a bit. Might wanna work on that."

"Yeah... I don't really like threatening people. And being intimidating is harder than it looks..."

Yang let out a short laugh. "Not for me!"

Jaune laughed a bit in return. "Right. Not for you." He glanced down at his feet for a moment, before looking back up at her. "So uh, I was wondering, Yang... Would you uh, maybe like to go out on another date the day after tomorrow?"

The resulting stare that he got after his question made him a bit nervous. Yang looked a bit baffled, but also annoyed at the same time. "Uh, Jaune, I think you might need to slow it down there."

He felt his shoulder droop a bit at her answer. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, we JUST went on a date."

"But you said that you had fun... did I do something wrong again?"

Yang let out a sigh, her arms folding over her chest as she shifted her weight to her side. "No, Jaune. You didn't do anything wrong. You just need to slow down. I said I had fun, that doesn't mean I've fallen head over heels for you."

"But I've fallen for you..." Jaune bit his lip hard, resisting the urge to blurt his thought out loud. Rejection was something that he had always been able to handle when it came to Weiss, but the feeling of being rejected by Yang... It ripped at his insides like a Beowulf's claws.

"And I'm not saying that I don't like you, either. Understand?"

He gulped down a bit of air as he opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it as to not risk saying something he would regret. Because he knew he would. So instead, he just nodded slowly in response. Yang seemed pleased with his agreement, a smile forming on his face as she turned to leave.

"Well, it's time for class again. See ya around, alright, Noodle?"

Jaune watched as she walked away, sweat pooling onto his forehead as he did. "Damn it... I don't want to wait..." He thought to himself before he answered her. "Alright, take it easy, Yang."

He felt his shoulders droop even further as he turned and walked back to the cafeteria, where his team was waiting for him.

"So, how did it go?" Pyrrha asked as they all began walking to their next class.

"Uh, a lot better than I thought it would, actually."

Nora pushed her way in between them. "Yeah! I saw them running off like they saw a Goliath or something! Did Yang threaten to break their legs?"

Jaune chuckled softly to himself. "More like she almost crushed both their windpipes." Pyrrha responded by putting a hand over her mouth.

"She... didn't, right?"

"Of course not. She probably would have though if I didn't step in and do a little uh... convincing of my own."

He felt a very light slap on his back. He turned to see a rather angry looking Pyrrha glaring at him. "Jaune! It's not like you to resort to violence to get what you want! ...I'm a little disappointed in you."

"I didn't HIT them or anything! I just... showed them my claws. That's all."

"Still, threatening someone... don't be like Cardin."

Jaune sighed as he glanced down at the ground. "You're right, Pyrrha. I won't end up like him." The statement seemed to calm her anger a bit as they continued on to class.

All throughout the rest of the day though, Jaune found himself distracted with thoughts of when he might next be able to convince Yang to go on another date with him.

Perhaps tomorrow would bring a better distraction for his distraction?

* * *

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

Jaune's eyes glanced up briefly to see team RWBY sitting at the table across from theirs, a board game with pieces intricately laid out on top of it. Whatever they were playing sounded like fun, but he was enjoying his own time by catching up on the latest issue of X-Ray and Vav.

At least, he was until the comic was snatched from his hand by someone. Looking up, Jaune saw that Pyrrha had snatched it from his hand and replaced it with a textbook for mathematics. He grumbled a bit as he continued staring at his partner, who was smiling in return. As his eyes shifted to the book in his hand, he couldn't help but catch Pyrrha placing the comic book she had confiscated inside of her own book, no doubt to read through it herself. It was surprising when he found out that she was a fan of the comic series too, but she didn't need to go around snatching his own books from him!

His thoughts were interrupted as a few pieces from what he assumed was team RWBY's board game smacked him in the head, prompting him to look over at their table. They certainly looked and sounded like they were having a lot of fun.

Maybe he could go join in?

Setting down the math book, he pushed his chair backwards and got up, making his ways towards his second set of friends table. As he walked over to them, he called out. "Hey! Can I play?"

Ruby turned to look at him, frowning as she did. "Sorry Jaune, we've already got 4 people."

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt that you possess." Weiss said as her eyes scanned over the cards she was holding.

Yang cocked an eyebrow as she looked at the heiress. "Uhh, you attacked your own naval fleet 2 turns ago." Weiss whined a bit in response.

Jaune puffed out his chest as his eyes locked on to Weiss. "Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I have been told that I am a natural born leader!"

"By who? Your mother?"

"A-and Pyrrha!"

"Hello again!" Pyrrha called out from their table.

"Oh! And my villages elder, Reus! So that's three people!" Jaune's chest puffed out a little more.

Yang glanced over at him, looking unconvinced. "Reus said you were a natural born leader?"

"Uuh. Well, he said I was going to do great things. Leading was... probably what he meant... Come on, Weiss, just let me play your hand for a turn!"

"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!" Weiss scoffed as she pulled her cards closer to her body, as if to shield them from him.

"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before."

"What, just because you tell us you're a dragon makes you think that you're that much better than all of us?" Weiss added in a stern glare to disuade a response. Everyone stared at her, confused as to why she said that.

"Wuh? No? I've never thought anything like that."

Yang and Blake both looked at each other for a brief moment before glancing back to Weiss. "Why would you even bring up the fact that he's a dragon, Weiss?"

Weiss glanced around at all the eyes that were focused on her and shrank in her seat a little. "W-well I uh-"

"Sup losers!"

Everyone turned to look at the person who approached them, revealing it to be Sun, along with the blue haired guy from yesterday.

"Hey Sun!"

"Ruby, Yang, Blake... Ice Queen. ...Jaune." Jaune couldn't help but notice the heavy amounts of anxiety in Sun's voice when his name was spoken.

Weiss meanwhile, used Sun's appearance as a distraction, complaining about her nickname that he spoke. "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

Sun ignored her, gesturing his hands to the blue haired guy next to him. "So I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend."

The blue haired guy glanced down at the board game before glancing back up at his audience. "Uhh, aren't libraries for reading?"

"Thank you!" Ren called out from the other table, prompting Nora to jolt out of her seat and shout something about pancakes.

Sun turned to his friend with a rather unamused look. "Shut up. Don't be a nerd."

Neptune held up an index finger and shook it at Sun. "Ah, bup, bup! "Intellectual", okay? Thank you." He waved to everyone. "I'm Neptune."

Weiss turned herself in her chair so that she was facing the blue haired "intellectual". "So Neptune, where are you from?"

Neptune turned to her, his eyes lighting up as he did. "Haven." He then approached Weiss, holding out his hand as he did a short bow. "And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

Weiss blushed heavily before accepting Neptune's hand. "Um, I'm Weiss."

Jaune put a hand to his chin and pondered to himself. "Huh. I haven't thought of a pet name for Yang yet. Sunshine? Nah, that's too obvious. Sun Angel? No... too unoriginal... I'll work on it later."

"Pleasure to meet you, Weiss."

Sun meanwhile, found himself distracted with Blake. "I never took you as the board game playing type."

Blake glanced down at the board game before letting out a heavy sigh. As she lifted herself from her seat, she pushed Sun out of her while speaking. "Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later."

Everyone shared a worried glance between each other as Blake slinked away, unsure of whether or not something was wrong with her.

Unfortunately, Jaune was still denied his request to join their game, as Neptune quickly took the spot.

"So what's up with you?"

Jaune turned to the person talking to him, Sun coming into his vision as he did. "Sun? What uh... what do you mean?"

"I mean, what's up with you and Yang? Are you a thing?"

Jaune glanced towards the ground. That was a good question. What WAS up with him and Yang? She seemed to eager to flirt with him before, but now she was saying that she wanted space? And he was now worried about being too desperate when he asked to go on a second date so soon. Maybe Sun would be a good source of advice, the dude was HOT. In the uh... bros complimenting bros kind of way. Or however that saying went... was it even a saying? Why was he still dwelling on this? "I uh, I'm not really sure. I want us to be but... after our first date..."

"Ah, lady problems. So common. What happened?"

"Well uh, she said I was taking things too fast."

Sun placed a finger to his chin, and nodded a few times. "Right, right. I get that. It can be hard to take things slow. But you gotta power through it, show her you can be dedicated and patient, y'know?"

Jaune sighed. That wasn't as much help as he thought it would be. "I know that... but it's just really hard."

"Well, did you ever think of finding a way to distract yourself? That might help."

A distraction? That could certainly help. But what would he be able to distract himself with... His gaze fell back onto what remained of team RWBY, skipping over Yang for obvious reasons. Then his gaze turned over to his own team. They could all provide a good distraction.

Jaune got a smirk on his face as an idea slowly began budding in his head. "Thanks, Sun. That really helped."

Sun seemed rather surprised as the sudden compliment. "Oh. Uh, cool. I'm glad? If uh... if you'll excuse me though, I think I'm gonna go chase after Blake."

"Go get her, tiger."

"I'm a monkey."

Jaune's brow furrowed as he shooed Sun away. "Yeah yeah, just go already."

After Sun had left, Jaune's gaze returned to two people in particular. Ruby and Pyrrha. Jaune watched as Ruby and Yang cried out in anguish, Neptune apparently taking all of their kingdoms in their board game. As Ruby shot up from her chair and stormed off, Jaune took it upon himself to pull her aside.

"Hey, Ruby. Can I ask you a question?"

Ruby stopped her small tantrum and turned to him. "Sure Jaune, what's up?"

"Would you maybe like to spar with me tomorrow?"

Ruby's eyes lit up as her hands clasped each other firmly. "YOU MEAN...?"

"Yep. You get to fight a dragon."


	25. Ice and Fire

"Alright Jaune! It's time for the leaders of team RWBY and team JNPR to throw down! We'll see who's better, the Grimm Reaper or the Golden Dragon!" Ruby held a fist high in the air, a triumphant glow of light surrounding her.

"Grimm Reaper?" Weiss questioned as she walked up beside her leader.

"Heh. Good one." Jaune quipped as he stretched a bit.

"Thank you. I thought of it myself." Ruby stated proudly before she suddenly struck a ninja pose. "Alright let's fight!"

"HOLD IT!" Weiss shouted as she held an arm out in front of Ruby. "I want to fight him first."

"Huh? No way! I called dibs first!"

"I never heard such a thing called out."

"I- bu- wuh... I DID TOO! YOU WERE STANDING NEXT TO ME!"

Jaune held out both his hands, silencing the two of them as he spoke. "Calm down, Ruby. Weiss, it's true. She called dibs first. Plus, she was the first one I asked the other day in the library, too."

Weiss scoffed under her breath before she stormed off to the benches, plopping herself down before crossing a leg. It wasn't long before her other foot began tapping impatiently. "Well? Move along then. Fight."

"Alright! Dragon up, Jaune!" Ruby cheered as she drew Crescent Rose from her holster, slamming the blade down next to her. Jaune complied, shifting into his Power form.

...Which caused Ruby to temporarily freak out.

"OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?! THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU LOOKED LIKE YESTERDAY THAT IS SO COOL!"

Even Weiss could be seen with a look of surprise on her face as she leaned forward a bit, taking in this new form that Jaune had shifted into.

"Oh yeah." He said as he scratched the back of his head. "Forgot to tell you guys, I've got two different dragon forms. This one is my Power form, and the other, more dragon like form is my Speed form. Yang came up with the names."

"That. Is. Awesome."

"I'm guessing from the names alone that your strength is increased in your power form, while your speed is increased in the other?" Weiss asked from her place on the bench.

"Yeah, that's right. My speed form is my true form though, it's what I was born looking like. This form is a mix of human and dragon."

"Interesting."

"Well now we'll see what's better, speed or power! Weiss will be the referee!" Ruby proudly declared, which confused the heiress.

"What? Why me? And why do we even need a referee?"

"Well, I just thought it'd give you something to do."

Weiss folded her left leg over her right and looked mildly annoyed while doing so. With a sigh, she held a hand up and waved it daintily. "Fine. You may begin at your leisure."

A shot rang out as Ruby propelled herself forward, wasting no time when it came to starting the match. As soon as her feet touched the ground she slid towards Jaune, another shot from her rifle helped her build enough momentum to swing her scythe at Jaune. He quickly ducked under the attack and mimicked Ruby's action, a beat of his right wing gave him a boost of momentum, allowing him to easily spin his body around in an attempt to trip Ruby up with his tail. A quick, small hop informed him that Ruby had either predicted the move, or she had very good reflexes. Either way, both of their actions forced the two of them to readjust their positioning due to the awkward fact that they both had to recover from such large swings. However, while Ruby attempted to distance herself from Jaune, she found that he jumped towards her instead of away like she thought he would.

His claws raked forward at an extreme speed, only giving her a split second to bring the handle of her scythe into their path. With a loud metallic scrape, Jaune's claws slid off of Crescent Roses handle and left him wide open for a counter attack. Instead of swinging the blade of her weapon, Ruby opted for a faster approach. She quickly swung the handle of Crescent Rose at Jaune and clocked him upside the head, causing him to reel back in pain. Ruby twirled Crescent Rose behind her back and repositioned her hands, allowing her to wind up another heavy horizontal swing that slashed Jaune in the chest.

The force of the blow sent him rolling to the ground, but he was given no time to attempt to use the momentum of his roll in any way. Ruby quickly followed him and gripped her scythe tightly. She quickly swung it to her side and upwards, taking a golfers stance before she swung at Jaune once again, striking him with the smaller blade on the end of her weapon.

Jaune hit the wall and quickly scrambled to his feet, just in time to block another swing coming his way. Both of his hands wrapped around the handle of Ruby's scythe, and the two of them began a violent tug of war. If there was one thing he knew about Ruby, it was that she sucked at hand-to-hand combat. Getting her weapon away from her was always the best way to deal with her. Although he had seriously underestimated her physical strength, while she wasn't nearly as strong as her sister, he still found it rather challenging to try and wrench the weapon from her hands.

He quickly pulled to the side with enough force to actually lift his opponent off of the ground, swinging her around in a circle before she firmly planted her feet on the floor once more. Now that Ruby's back was against the wall, she had much less room to work with. This made it much easier for him to gain an edge on their tug of war.

Weiss watched the continuous struggle and saw that Arc was having trouble prying the weapon from this small and delicate girls hands. She shut her eyes and smirked triumphantly. No matter what shape or form he took, he would always still be the same incompetent-

A loud crash rang out from next to her, forcing her to open her eyes and look at the source of the sound. Only to see that Crescent Rose, Ruby's weapon, was now on the ground next to the her. Ruby was now without her weapon. She looked back at the fight at hand to see Ruby helplessly swinging her fists at Jaune, who was blocking her attempts to get passed him so she could retrieve her weapon.

His tail once again snaked out and wrapped itself around Ruby's left leg, pulling it forward so that she would have her balance ripped out from underneath her. As soon as she hit the ground, Jaune drove his hand onto her stomach and pinned her down. Despite the fact that she struggled to lift his hand off of her, and even attempted to kick a few times with her free leg, nothing she could do would provide any use.

Ruby let out a sigh as she stopped struggling altogether. "Alright, I give up."

Jaune smiled as he lifted his hand off of Ruby's stomach. He stopped about halfway and held it out instead, allowing Ruby to grab onto it so she could be pulled up. Unfortunately, he misjudged both his own strength and the weight of the small girl, accidentally lifting her completely off the ground. Both of them let out a few giggles as he set her back down on the ground.

"Wow Jaune, you're super tough now! I'm not even sure if I can ever beat you."

Jaune blushed a bit before waving off the statement. "It was your first time fighting me like this. Just give it a bit and I'm sure everyone will be able to beat me."

Weiss looked on, unamused. She didn't need time, this was still the same old Arc she knew after all. He had a few extra tricks up his sleeve, but that wouldn't be enough to stop her. After all, strength and speed are nothing if they aren't properly honed and controlled. And she was an expert at doing such a thing. While Ruby showed a level of tactical cunning that she herself wasn't entirely capable of, she knew that her leader wasn't nearly as skilled in combat. As she moved to get off of the bench, she drew myrtenaster and walked into the ring.

"Very well then, now it's my turn." She stated with a proud smirk on her face.

"Uuh, I think Jaune needs a break first, Weiss." Ruby noticed the intense stink eye that her partner gave her when she said that and backed away a bit.

"Nah, it's okay, Ruby. I don't think I'm gonna beat Weiss, so uh... I guess I'll just make it easier for her." Jaune stated as he scratched the back of his head.

"Aw come on, Jaune. Don't be like that! You should just rest a bit and then fight Weiss at your full strength!"

Weiss nodded in agreement. She would beat him at his full strength, and she would accept nothing less. After a few minutes of resting, Jaune stepped back into the arena to face Weiss, with Ruby being the referee this time.

"Alright! Fight!" Ruby shouted as she waved her hand downwards.

Weiss narrowed her eyes as she extended an arm, her index and middle finger pointing towards Jaune as a glyph materialized at their tips. She would play it smart, unlike her partner. Arc's effectiveness was only middle to melee range, yet she was effective at ALL ranges. She would pin him down and force him to concede from all the ranged pressure.

A flurry of icicles fired off from the glyph at incredible speeds, giving Jaune no time to dodge out of the way as he was pelted by them. A second wave of icicles shot out and struck him in the chest, the force of the attack causing him to fall on his knee. Weiss smirked before she once again fired off another flurry of attacks, expecting the dragon to yield soon.

However, she was taken by surprise when Jaune's wings folded in onto his body, forming a makeshift shield as the icicles crashed against the fibers of his wings. The attacks still hurt him, but he had focused his aura into his wings to reduce as much damage to them as possible. He knew he would have to make a move quickly though, so he spit up fire into his hand just as he did that night on the dock.

Meanwhile, Weiss had stepped forward and began plunging myrtenaster into the floor, a wave of sharp icy stalagmites rising from the floor as they sped towards Jaune's position. Feeling the surge of cold coming towards him, he quickly opened his wings and dove to the side. As he flew through the air, he carefully aimed at Weiss before throwing a fireball.

Weiss gasped as she hopped backwards, an explosion of fire ringing out in the spot that she had just been in. She grit her teeth as she heard Ruby cheer from the sidelines, shooting a small glare at her partner before turning her attention back to her opponent. She knew that Arc was capable of breathing fire, but she didn't know that he had developed such a technique to utilize it at a longer range.

She had underestimated him this once, and it would be the last time. She focused her energy, and three glyphs appeared around Arc. She quickly thrust myrtenaster into the ground once more, and another surge of ice appeared around the dragon. This time however, the ice formed three rather large barriers around him that would stop him from moving.

Jaune struggled to claw his way out, only to feel another onslaught of icicles smash into him like cold shrapnel. He continued taking more of Weiss's ranged abuse before finally remembering that fire melts ice. He quickly blanketed his icy prison in a firestorm from his mouth, the scene catching both Ruby and Weiss by surprise. Weiss narrowed her eyes as she peered into the cloud of steam and smoke, waiting to see if Arc would emerge.

However, neither were expecting Jaune to come bursting from the cloud, his entire body ablaze as he rushed forward on all fours. Once he had closed the distance between himself and Weiss a bit, he jumped high into the air and attempted to land on the heiress, forcing her to back off. As soon as the dragon landed however, the fire that was engulfing his body erupted out in a wave that spread in all directions. Weiss shielded herself with her arms as the fire swept over her, her aura protecting her from being ignited herself. Ruby had ducked underneath the wave before it hit her, but she could still feel the intense heat radiating throughout the room.

"Woah." Jaune glanced down at his two hands in confusion. What exactly did he just do?

Weiss put her arms down and watched the dragon glance at his own hands in confusion, before he turned to her. "Uh, you alright, Weiss?"

She grit her teeth harder in response and crouched down. She built up her energy before she surged towards Arc, taking the dragon by surprise as she stabbed him in the gut. He recoiled in pain as the attack bounced off of his aura, but quickly charged back into the fight. Both of them began striking out at each other, and both of them were dodging each others blows before Jaune started to notice that Weiss was slowing down.

He felt his claws beginning to connect with her, yet her attacks still couldn't land their mark. In fact, her attacks were beginning to slow along with her movements. Whenever Weiss dueled other students during Goodwitch's class, the fights always ended so quickly that he could never really gauge what her stamina was. And it seemed like only a few seconds in physical combat was enough to tire her out, as she began panting heavily.

Weiss meanwhile, couldn't believe that she had let herself be backed into a corner the way she had been. She was forced to use her newer technique, one that she had been carefully honing for quite some time. She briefly pushed herself away from the dragon and waved her free hand to her side, a large amount of glyphs forming in the air around the both of them.

One glyph formed just behind her feet, which she quickly hopped up on to and pushed herself off of. The glyph boosted her momentum as she flew forward in a flash, striking Jaune as she flew by him. Once she had landed her first strike, she flipped herself so that her feet would land on the next glyph she was heading toward. Once she felt her feet collide with the solid glyph, she pushed herself off again and went in for another strike.

However, Jaune panicked and spread his wings wide as he recoiled from the first hit, sending his left wing crashing into Weiss accidentally as she pushed off of her second glyph. The heiress let out a shout as she crashed to the ground, dazed and frustrated by the event that just transpired.

Her suffering wasn't finished yet though, as Jaune tumbled down to the ground in front of her, his tail smashing into her face as the dragon collapsed. Ruby checked her scroll to see that her partners aura had dipped into the red, meaning that she had lost the match.

"The match is over, Jaune wins again!" She shouted as she held up a hand.

"Oh my gosh! Weiss, I'm so sorry!" Jaune shouted as he pulled himself to his feet and scrambled over to the heiress and offered her a hand.

Weiss simply let out a low growl as she got up, smacking the claw away from her. "For what? Winning?"

"My tail hit your face pretty hard, are you alright?"

"Do you really think that I am so delicate that I can't handle an attack like that?"

"I-it wasn't an attack, it was an accident. I mean, I just panicked when you did your attack and my wings clipped you and-"

Weiss's silent fury grew fiercer. It was all just an accident? Here she thought he had actually predicted her movements, but he defeated her completely on ACCIDENT?! "I'm fine, Arc."

Jaune sighed in relief as Ruby came running over to the two. "That. was. AWESOME! You guys looked so cool! Jaune, that huge fire wave was amazing, and Weiss that attack where you were jumping off all your glyphs looked like it was going to be so tight!"

Weiss completely blocked Ruby's voice out of her head as she fumed, watching her partner and the dragon babble to each other incoherently about fighting moves. Although when Jaune switched back into his human form, she did catch his scroll going off. She watched as he spoke with someone on the other end of it before hanging up and excusing himself from the room. Good, he was certainly the last person she wanted to see. Even looking at the back of his stupid head as he walked out the door enraged her.

Once the door closed, Ruby heard a shout come from behind her. Turning quickly, she saw Weiss explode in anger as she threw myrtenaster to the ground, the weapon clattering loudly against the floor as it landed. Ruby instinctively ran to her friends side. "Weiss! What's wrong?! Are you okay?!"

Weiss turned to her, face red and eyes puffy as if she were about to cry. "No, you DOLT! I am NOT okay!"

Ruby recoiled a bit, never having seen Weiss angry like this. "W-what's wrong?"

"I put so much effort into EVERYTHING I've EVER done! That's what is wrong!"

"What?"

Weiss clenched her fists as turned her head to her weapon on the ground. "I've studied for so many years. I've trained for so many years. I am supposed to be the best. And yet I find myself struggling against... ARC!"

Ruby tilted her head. What was so wrong about being beaten by Jaune? He was a dragon, after all. "What's wrong with that?"

"What is wrong with that? Can you really not see? Arc is a LOSER!"

Ruby winced at the word, but Weiss continued on. "He couldn't fight. He couldn't lead, and he certainly couldn't take no for an answer! He was a complete joke in every field, yet now he has surpassed me. And he has done NOTHING to earn that outside of unlocking his semblance."

"But Weiss, he's a-"

"What he is means NOTHING! HE HASN'T EARNED THE RIGHT TO BE BETTER! HE'S. DONE. NOTHING." Weiss shouted before she picked up her weapon and stormed out of the training room, slamming the door on her way out.

Ruby stood alone in the room, glancing down at her feet. Weiss had a point, but she was also completely missing another point entirely. That it didn't matter how you attained your strength, so long as you honed it and used it properly. She let out a heavy sigh before she walked over to the bench, carefully picking up Crescent Rose before folding it up. As she cradled the weapon in her arms, she glanced at the fighting ring that was still scorched and iced over before she made her way towards the door.

Hopefully this would just be another small bump in the road, and it wouldn't turn into a complete pile of wrecked cars.


	26. Fiery Hiccup

Weiss groaned once more, though nobody actually heard it because it was in her head. Once again she had gotten stuck next to Arc, and she fully expected to get an earful of his stupid flirting. Yet as Professor Port continued to drone on and on while paying no attention to the class, she couldn't help but notice that his ramblings were the only thing she was hearing.

That is, up until she heard a sigh come from Arc himself. Her eyes glanced over at him, noticing that he was paying about as much attention to their teachers rant as anyone else was. Instead, he opted for idly doodling on his paper, much like one Ruby Rose liked to do. Weiss felt a vein bulge in her forehead, but it quickly settled down once she looked at what Arc was actually doodling.

Interestingly enough, it was an emblem. An emblem that she knew very well, given the fact that it was the emblem of her teammate, Yang Xiao Long. Once the blonde had finished his little doodle, he stared longingly at it. And for a brief moment, his gaze seemed to drift across the room. Following it, Weiss saw that he was staring at the very person in question, who was half asleep next to her partner, Blake. Blake looked as if she were about to collapse from exhaustion as well, which was a problem that they would hopefully take care of today.

"Curious. Why would Arc be paying so much attention to Yang?" She pondered to herself as her gaze went back to the boy seated next to her.

He had begun doodling on his paper again, this time of his own emblem. It didn't take him long to draw the two crescent moon looking shapes next to each other, which is when he began staring at his paper yet again. She continued to stare at his still hand, before it finally moved once more.

This time it moved in between the two emblems, the pencil touching down on the paper as it began drawing a smaller symbol in between them. Weiss squinted her eyes a bit as Arc put the finishing touch on the symbol that was now in between Yang's symbol and his own.

It was a plus sign.

Weiss's jaw fought the urge to completely unhinge and drop to the floor. There was no way that what she was seeing was real. Arc gazed longingly at the small picture he had drawn before his eyes widened in sudden realization at what he doodled, his eraser swiftly removing the plus sign from existence almost as soon as it was brought into the world. And she remembered clearly how she used to spy him doing the same exact things with her family sigil and his emblem a few months back.

So Arc was crushing on Yang Xiao Long now? While a part of her brain was doing backflips in pure bliss over the notion, a part of her was also concerned. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was with the idea that Yang could actually fall in love with the dragon, given her prior experiences with him. And then there was the matter of how it happened in the first place. After all, since when did the two of them actually ever interact? She had never-

"You... you KNEW about this... didn't you?"

"Guilty as charged!"

"How long?"

"Little bit after our trip to Forever Fall."

The conversation echoed in her head out of nowhere. Yang had known since the trip to Forever Fall, and she had been vanishing during their free periods almost every day after she had found out. While her other two teammates often questioned her on where she went, the heiress had never thought to ask. Mostly because she didn't really care all that much at first, it was only until she noticed that Yang was beginning to neglect interacting with them. ...Not that she necessarily WANTED to interact with the blonde brute, but they had to at least talk to each other on a regular basis. After all, how can a team possibly hope to function if one of its team members distances themselves from the rest? The problem had happened with both Blake and Yang now, which was quite funny given the fact that they were both partners.

Not only that, but now that she actually thought about it, Arc had stopped interacting with her almost completely when Yang had started to vanish to be with him. Of course, it was just regular training they were doing, but apparently Arc's feelings had been steered towards Yang.

And while she really didn't care much for Arc, her interest in this situation was piqued.

She jumped a bit in her seat as the bell rang, signaling that classes were now over. Professor Port looked mildly disappointed, while everyone else seemed to be relieved.

"My, is it that time already? Oh well, I suppose the conclusion of my thrilling tale will just have to wait until next time! Class dismissed!"

Jaune sighed in relief as he walked down the hall, because he was seriously at risk of falling asleep in Ports class... When he wasn't drawing his stupid little doodles. He wondered how much longer he was going to be able to wait before he asked Yang out again, but his thoughts were interrupted by team RWBY walking passed him, the group whispering among themselves as they did.

Yang turned around as they walked, her eyes lighting up as she broke off from the group and backpedaled to him. He made to smile and wave at her, but was stopped when her hand rushed out and grabbed him by his shirt, dragging him forward at an incredible speed.

"Hey, Jaune! Just the dragon I was looking forward to seeing! How are ya today?"

Jaune would have tried backing off a bit, but Yang had a tight grip on him. "Uuuh... good, and how are you?"

"I'm just awesome! Say, got any plans for today?"

"Well I-"

"Not anymore you don't!" Yang shouted cheerfully as she dragged Jaune in front of their dorm and shoved him inside.

He was met with extremely confused glances by Ruby, Weiss and Blake, the latter two also looking quite irritated that he was there at all.

"Why is Arc here?" Weiss questioned as she placed a hand on her hips, Blake seemed to nod a few times as if to approve of the question.

"Uh, because he's a dragon? I don't think a little backup from a dragon would hurt." Yang responded, with Ruby joining her in nodding in agreement.

Blake step forward and cocked an eyebrow. "We can handle this on our own. Besides, what was that about keeping this a secret?"

"And the big gold dragon here is great at keeping secrets!"

"What is he even going to help us with?"

"Well, I just figured we could have him waiting in the WINGS!" Yang laughed at her own joke, while Jaune just rolled his eyes.

"I don't get it." Ruby stated bluntly. "But anyway, that sounds like a good idea. As team leader, I approve of Yang's decision to bring Jaune along!" She gave a firm nod to Jaune.

"Fine." Weiss and Blake both said at the same time, the two of them crossing their arms and facing away from him in opposite directions. They couldn't really argue with the logic of their leader. Because they knew they wouldn't win said argument.

Ruby glanced at them for a moment before speaking. "So, everybody remember their roles?"

Weiss unfolded her arms and nodded. "You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."

Blake's bow seemed to wiggle a bit as she spoke about her role. "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."

"And I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard..." Yang said with a grin as she leaned an arm on Jaune's shoulder.

"Great! We'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found." Ruby pumped her fist into the air in excitement. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah!" A voice came from the direction of the window, startling everyone as they turned to face it.

Yang cocked an eyebrow and folded her arms as she stared at the monkey faunus. "How did you get up there?"

"Ah, it's easy; I do it all the time."

Weiss was the first to pick up on that. "You do what?!"

"I climb trees all the time. So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"

Weiss gave him a rather ugly looking scowl before Blake spoke up. "We are going to investigate the situation... as a team."

Ruby stepped forward and spoke to him. "Sorry, Sun. We don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."

Sun looked unconvinced as he gesture to Jaune. "What about that guy?"

Ruby glanced over at Jaune before turning back to Sun and shrugging. "We have to."

Sun rolled his eyes. "Psh. That's dumb. Besides, you can't turn me away, I've got so many useful skills that could help! I even brought Neptune with me!"

All four members of team RWBY leaned out the window to see that Neptune was also there, standing in a particularly suave way as he leaned up against the building.

"Sup?"

Ruby scratched her head in confusion. "How did you even get up here?"

"I have my ways."

All of them looked down to see that Neptune was barely standing on the very small rim of the building. "Seriously though can I come in? We're REALLY high up right now."

Jaune watched as Neptune tumbled into the room and quickly hopped to his feet, trying to look cool while doing so but failing.

Ruby looked a little annoyed as she had to think of a few changes to their plans. "Alright, I'll go with Weiss; Sun, you can go with Blake." Ruby pushed Neptune away from Weiss and towards Yang, with only him and Weiss noticing the wink that he gave her. "And Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner. Everyone good?"

"Yeah uh, I'm not so good." Jaune said while raising his hand. "What exactly am I supposed to be doing?"

"Oh, that's easy. You just hang around downtown in case something goes wrong, then come running to help us."

Jaune caught Neptune winking at Yang out of the corner of his eye, something that did not sit well with him at all. "Yeah uh, maybe I could go with Yang instead, and Neptune could go to the CCT with you guys?"

Weiss seemed to perk up at that idea. "For once, Arc has come up with a plan that I approve of."

"Pffhahaha, naaah. We'll be fine on our own! Let's go, Weiss!" Ruby stated as she began dragging Weiss out of the room.

"But... BUT!" The door slammed before she could argue anymore.

Everyone stood in silence for a moment before Yang decided to move for the door. "Alright then, guess we're off too. C'mon, partner."

Sun grabbed Neptune by the shoulder for a moment and pulled him backwards. "Yeeeaaaah, just give us a second to talk. In private."

Neptune noticed that Sun was dragging him back towards the window. "Wait wait what are we-" And promptly pushed him out of it and onto the thin ledge once more. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DUDE?!"

Sun pulled Neptune's head closer to his and began whispering into his ear. "Listen dude, Yang is already taken. Jaune's got eyes on her, so unless you wanna be fried to a crisp by a friggin' dragon, lay off the flirting, got it?"

Neptune's face paled up a bit more before he nodded. Sun pulled him back in and pushed him towards Yang, the blonde brawler catching him before he could fall flat on his face. This annoyed Jaune even further.

"Alright, all good!" Sun announced with a smile.

"Kay then, let's go, Nep."

Jaune watched as Neptune and Yang left the room before he followed. As the two of them walked to the bullhead docks, Jaune went the opposite direction and walked to the courtyard. There, he found a nice little secluded area behind a few vending machines and shifted into his speed form, surging out from his hiding spot and into the sky with a sonic boom.

The day went by very slowly as he just bummed around on the roof of a building, eating a few snacks he picked up from the vending machine he had hidden behind at Beacon. Although it did give him a bit more time to think about how much he wanted to go on a date with Yang again.

But, it had only been around three days since their date. He had to wait longer, and perhaps maybe he would wait for something specific. He did hear about some sort of event happening soon, but he had no idea what it actually was. He didn't pay much attention when it came to the events scheduled around the school, since they were mostly boring. But if it was a big event, he would give serious consideration to asking Yang to it.

Maybe he could make a show about it too, like a really fancy display that she couldn't say no to. Put that dragonfire to good use, outside of combat that is. He let out a yawn as he checked his watch, the time being almost ten o'clock at night. As he slowly got to his feet, he figured that must have been enough time for them to complete all their searches. Knowing his luck, they probably just forgot to tell him when they finished.

He stretched a bit before he got ready to shift into his speed form and head back to Beacon, only for his scroll to begin ringing.

Jaune quickly pulled it out of his pocket and answered it. "Hello?"

"Yo Jaune, up and at em, it's action time!"

"What?"

"Blake found Torchwick, her and Sun are being chased by him in a giant war mech he stole from Atlas."

He nearly dropped his scroll in shock. "WHAT?!"

"Yep! We're intercepting him now on the freeway, so get your scaly butt over here, pronto!"

"Wait, how am I gonna find you guys?"

"It's a giant friggin' robot, dude. I don't think you can miss it. It's even firing rockets."

Jaune smacked his face with the palm of his hand. "Right. I'll be right there." He ended the call and stuffed his scroll back into his pocket before leaping off the roof, his shape shifting into his Speed form as he took off into the night sky.

Once Jaune had gained enough altitude, it became very easy to see where his friends were, mostly because of the explosions and cars flying off of the nearby highway. He quickly dove down and began flying along one of the roads, glancing over to his left to see that he was on the road just above where all the action was. He watched as Neptune unloaded a shower of bullets into the giant robot before making his move. Jaune turned to fly down and join up with everyone, but was stopped when he felt something crash into him from above.

He felt the pavement rip into his aura along with his scales as he slid across the now empty road, all the while his mind was panicking as to what could have hit him. As he scrambled to his feet, his head darted around trying to find the source of the attack before his eyes settled upon a person.

She was a girl with pink and brown hair, her eyes also seemed to be pink and brown... when they suddenly changed to white for a split second before changing back. She also had a pink parasol that she was spinning around happily as she walked towards him. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the girl approach him, there was something certainly wrong with her.

She stopped a few steps in front of him, and as he looked down at the girl, he noticed one thing that was wrong with her. She was absolutely tiny. She appeared to be even shorter than Ruby, something that made him snicker loudly. The girls face turned neutral as she no doubt heard the mockery being directed at her.

"O-oh... Sorry... I didn't mean to laugh. Everything just kinda looks tiny when you're me, y'know?" He offered in return.

The girl said nothing as the smile crept back onto her face, and the next thing Jaune knew, he was being slammed in the stomach with a boot. The force of the attack knocked him backwards and sent him into a prone position.

"Hold on, I don't want to fight you, you're-"

He paused as the girl's smile grew menacing. She continued to pursue him, albeit still at the slow walking pace from before. It was at this point that he knew what was so wrong about the girl. It was about the aura she carried around her, and not in the soul kind. No, this girl seemed to shimmer and sparkle at random intervals that would be almost impossible to notice by non-dragon eyes. And when a girl shimmered and sparkled, well, that could only mean one thing.  
One very deadly thing.

"Y-y-you... you're a... a Fae..."

The girl's smile widened into a maddened grin as her eyes lit up as she happily began swinging her parasol from side to side, a trail of arcane sparkles lingering in its wake.


	27. Type Advantage

Fae, Fairy, Nymph. These creatures went by many names in mythology, but Dragons referred to them as Fae first and foremost, which made the name stick. Fae-folk were very hard to explain, as they varied greatly from type to type. Most people thought of them as little winged folk that took on insect features. But the most common variety were Fae that took on the guise of humans or faunus. Faunus in particular used to be confused with Fae, but there are differences. Mostly of the magical variety, as Fae are skilled in the usage of illusionary and nature magics, along with being able to use runes and some even a form of dimensional magic.

Dragons and Fae have always had a rough relationship, according to what he was taught at school anyway. They were both complete opposites of each other. Dragons were proud, noble and sophisticated. Fae were impish, shady and chaotic. While the two mostly avoid each other, they do sometimes interact with each other for trading or politics. Although, Fae Politics mostly boil down to what entertains them the most in the current moment due to their shorter attention spans and desire to cause a little friendly mischief.

Then there were the darker Fae, the ones that take their playful prankish ways down a horrible path. A path that is mostly lined with corpses and blood, all in the name of entertainment for themselves. And unfortunately for Jaune, this appeared to be a Fae that has taken said path. His first hint was the insane grin that she was giving him while brandishing the second hint, her parasol with an extra stabby bit at the end of it.

The Fae swung the weapon at his neck, forcing him to leap backwards to avoid the attack. As he dodged, a cone of fire surged from his mouth and engulfed the area he left behind. The Fae effortlessly launched herself over the blanket of fire and stabbed downwards at him as she fell towards her target.

With one swift motion, Jaune clapped his hands over the offending weapon mid-flight and jerked his hands to the side, launching the parasol out of the attackers hands. Both of the fighters paused for a moment as they watched the weapon clatter to the ground a few feet away.

The two of them stared at the weapon before turning to face each other, with the Fae giving Jaune a playful smirk and a shrug as she performed a somersault kick, taking the dragon by surprise as her boot struck the bottom of his jaw with a sickening crack. Jaune felt himself fly through the air before he crashed into the pavement of the street, but he had absolutely no time to think about it as he saw the Fae attempt to stomp down on his face with her boot.

A burst of fire erupted from his mouth that forced her to hop away from him, allowing him to drag himself up from the pavement.

Only to find himself taking a knee to the gut, causing him to gag out smoke.

Whoever this Fae was, she had made her intentions quite clear. She wanted him dead, and she was a professional at making him so. In the short time that he fought her, he could already tell that she was leagues above his level. Mostly because it wasn't really a fight, it was mostly him getting the smoke beaten out of him as he was tossed around. He needed to join up with the others, because he had a much better chance of surviving if they could overtake this Fae with sheer numbers. Jaune spun around and raked his claws forward in an attempt to slice the Fae to ribbons, but she slipped between his arms and clocked him in the jaw once again.

Jaune flapped his wings and threw himself backwards, the wind also causing the Fae to lose her balance for a split second. Knowing that this would be his only chance, he kicked off of the ground and took off into the air. But as he gained altitude, he felt a weight on his back.

During one of his flaps, he felt something slap itself onto his right wing before the weight on his body let go and fell back to the road. Confused, he continued to climb higher into the sky before his right wing exploded into pain, an electric hiss emanating from it as it began to lock up.

Jaune screamed in pain as he plummeted back towards the road, crashing into the hard pavement once again. If he wasn't in so much pain, he would think that he was starting to get into a relationship with the ground at this point in his life. He slowly forced his limbs to push himself off of the ground, only for him to receive another swift kick in the gut, knocking him over onto his side.

Glancing up at the Fae, she seemed quite... disappointed was the best word he could think of. She tilted her head a bit and nudged him with her boot before shrugging a bit to herself. And then she reeled it back and drove it into his stomach as hard as she could. She would repeat this process over and over again, each time the pain in his stomach growing.

It was around the fourth or fifth kick that Jaune began to see red, his instincts kicking in as he also achieved a second wind. He practically exploded off of the ground with a primal roar and attacked the Fae, resulting in the girl smiling happily as her prey came at her once again. Jaune slashed furiously in every direction he could, with each attack completely missing as the Fae ducked and weaved through his attacks with ease.

Finally, he quickly spun around and snapped his tail at her, striking her square in the gut. Jaune smirked to himself as he felt his tail collide with the Fae, only to have his smirk completely vanish as she shattered into a thousand glass pieces. He felt a boot plant itself firmly on the back of his head again as he was sent forward.

This time however, he was able to keep his balance. As he stumbled forward, he spit up a bit of fire into his hand and formed it into a fireball. Spinning around quickly, he threw it at the Fae as hard as he could. As the fireball traveled, he noticed that the Fae now had her parasol back and was in the process of opening it up. Once she had it opened, it shimmered pink briefly before she held her arm out behind her.

The fireball flew towards her, causing her to step to the side. The fireball was then scooped up into the parasol, the fire continuing to spin and smolder as it was trapped inside. The Fae smiled as she began spinning the parasol vertically in her hand, before her smile turned into a wicked smirk as she swung the parasol hard, firing off the fireball back at its original creator. Jaune had no time to react, the fireball pelting him in the chest before it violently exploded and knocked him to the ground once more.

Jaune coughed up a bit of his own blood as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. This was it, wasn't it? He couldn't fly and nobody was within earshot of him. He didn't think his life would end by the hands of a Fae, but he would have liked it better if his murderer was some mindless grimm instead of a psychopathic fairy. The Fae twirled her parasol in her hand as she slowly walked to him, knowing full well that he had no energy left to fight back. With a cold and sharp sounding flick, the blade of her parasol unsheathed itself once again. Jaune began breaking out into a cold sweat as the Fae's cute smile slowly turned into a manic grin, her eyes dilating as she savored the fear in his eyes.

But as the Fae got closer, an explosion rang out from the streets below. The Fae stopped in her tracks, a look of fear and shock lining her face as the two of them turned to the explosion. Jaune's gaze turned back to the Fae, and hers to his. The Fae glanced back at the explosion, before looking back at him. She grit her teeth so hard that he thought they might shatter, a look of pure anger on her face before she just... vanished. He stood still for a moment before he took off running towards the explosion, stumbling as he pushed his legs to carry him.

He hopped down over the side of the road and landed heavily on the one below, his body having to pause for a moment to allow the pain to surge throughout his body. His eyes locked on his friends standing side by side as he rushed towards them, and as he got closer he saw two figures that were familiar. The first was the ginger from the docks, and the second was the Fae he had just fought. Jaune watched as Yang let out a roar before charging forward, a punch landing on the Fae that made her and the ginger she was standing in front of shatter into glass shards. He noticed that his friends all glanced around in confusion before the sounds of a bullhead's spinning rotary blades filled the air, the airship flying in low enough for the two criminals to escape unharmed.

Jaune slowed to a limp as he got close to his friends, the group not noticing him as they spoke.

"I guess Torchwick got a new henchwoman."

"...Yeah... she's... not normal..." Jaune said as he stood up on his hind legs.

Everyone turned to him, with Yang and Weiss looking particularly disgruntled.

"Dude, where the hell were you?! We coulda used some backup!"

Weiss folded her arms and nodded in agreement. "Did you simply wish to watch us struggle instead of using all that power you have, Arc?"

"You're injured." Blake interjected as her amber eyes burned into his person.

Everyone turned to her for a brief moment to see her gaze fixated on Jaune rather intently, causing them to turn back to the dragon to see what she was looking at.

As they looked closer, they began noticing the bruises and patches of ripped up scales on their friend.

"Oh my god. What happened to you?!" Yang shouted as she pulled the dragon down to the ground in front of them and began inspecting him.

"W-what? Me? I'm fine, I don't know what you're-" He interrupted himself by hacking up spit in Weiss's face by accident.

The heiress wiped it off with her sleeve in disgust, glancing down at her clothing. "Great, now I'm going to have to burn these-" She stopped mid sentence, her eyes going wide at the sight of red splatters streaking her outfit. It wasn't spit that he had coughed up, it was blood. Gazing up at the dragon, she saw even more lining his mouth. "You're bleeding internally."

Everyone turned to Weiss in shock before turning back to Jaune, while the heiress began giving him a verbal lashing to go along with his physical one. "You big, scaly DOLT! Don't run around saying you're fine when you have internal bleeding! You could die from that!"

Jaune coughed again in response. "Yeah... you're right... I just didn't want to worry you guys."

Yang grit her teeth, her eyes flashing red as she did. "Dude, it'd worry us more if you just suddenly dropped dead on the way back to Beacon! Can you even fly?"

Jaune shook his head. "...No... she did something to my right wing. It hurts so much..."

"Who? The pink and brown midget?" Jaune nodded in response to her question. Yang grit her teeth a bit more before she stepped forward. "Alright, shift back into your human form and we'll take you to the hospital."

"I... I can't." He replied weakly as he sat on the ground. "Whatever she did to my wing, it's stopping me from changing back."

Everyone looked at each other, unsure about what they should do in this situation. Until Blake spoke up. "Until we figure out what's wrong with him, we need to get him to an alley or some other place to hide him. The police will probably be arriving soon, and we don't want to explain why we're here with a giant, injured dragon."

Everyone seemed to agree as they began shuffling Jaune off the road, finding a nearby alley that was big enough to fit all of them in. As the four girls and their dragon friend sat down, Jaune pulled his right wing out and glanced at it. If he could just find out what was wrong, he might be able to fix it with little problem.

"Guys, can you look at my right wing and see if anything looks weird?" He winced a bit as he felt a few hands poking and prodding the fibers of his wings, until a hand brushed against one particular spot and sent a shock of pain through the owners hand.

"Ow, what the hell?" Blake said as her hand reeled back in pain, her eyes traveling to the location that had caused the pain. There was what appeared to be a small circle of letters that were barely bigger than her palm tattooed into Jaune's wing.

Curiously enough, the letters did not look anything like the common language all countries now spoke. It didn't even look like the languages some of the kingdoms ever spoke in the past. "When did you get this tattoo, Jaune?" She questioned as her hand reached out for it again.

"Tattoo...? Don't touch it!" Jaune shouted as he jerked his wing backwards, startling his friends as they wrenched their hands back to their respective bodies.

Jaune grabbed his wing and pulled it further in front of him, his eyes narrowing as he searched for the offending "tattoo." When his eyes settled upon it, his nerves began acting up again. The Fae had tagged him with a rune, which was now embedded into his skin like a tattoo.

"She tagged me with a rune..." He started to explain. "My runic is a bit rusty, never did like studying it, but I think I can make out the words if you give me a minute..."

Everyone shared confused glances as they watched Jaune stare intently at the rune on his wing. "What's a Rune? Is that like Weiss's glyphs?" Ruby asked as she pulled herself in a bit closer and studied the strange markings on her friends wing.

"No, runes are an ancient form of magic. One of the only forms of real magic, actually." He said as he deciphered the first word. Electricity. That would explain the zapping pain he and anyone who touched it felt.

"Don't we use magic all the time? That's what dust is, right?"

Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner and leader. "No, Ruby. Dust is essentially the elements in a compound and easy to use form. Calling dust magic is like calling an electric fan magic."

Jaune nodded as he continued with his own explanation. "Weiss is right. No, runes are used for actual magic. You can do simple stuff with dust, like create an electrically charged bullet or weapon, but with runes you can do things as destructive as creating an entire lightning storm that can eradicate a town." He noticed the collective gasps as he explained.

"Of course, that's just the most drastic useage. And it would take a ton of power and runic words to even conjure up something like that. Other uses are like what us Dragons use to protect the village, like making magically charged sentry stones that fire off bolts of arcane energy at Grimm, or a force field that keeps them out."

He finally deciphered the second word, this one being "Chains." Electrical Chains? Well, that explained why his wing had locked up and started zapping him. He let out a heavy sigh as he lifted his right index claw and slowly maneuvered it towards the rune. "I'm going to try and dispel it, which is basically me writing the rune in reverse. It's sloppy and it's going to hurt, but it's the quickest and easiest solution."

Jaune winced in pain as his finger touched the first symbol. A crackle of electricity surged through both his hand and his wing as he began to trace the symbol with his finger. The runic writing lit up as he continued the process, causing even more electricity to surge out from the runes. He grit his teeth hard as the first letter was traced, the pain becoming stronger as he continued to dispel it.

Everyone else watched and grimaced along with the dragon, as if they were experiencing the pain too. Jaune finished the first word before the pain became overbearing, but removing his finger would cancel the dispel and force him to start over again. Yet the longer he hesitated, the more the pain continued to surge through him.

Seeing him stop made Yang worry for a moment, and out of instinct her hand reached out towards him. She quickly grabbed his left hand and squeezed it firmly, as if to offer some sort of comfort to his pain. And while it did actually ease Jaune's pain, the reason it did so is because the electricity began surging through her as well.

Yang grit her teeth and shut her eyes tightly as she felt the electricity surge into her body, then leave through the ground below where it would fizzle out. Jaune opened an eye and glanced down at Yang, wishing he could tell her to let go. But the pain both of them were experiencing was far too much to allow him the opportunity. Even if it was being divided between them. So he began finishing the dispelling process, his fingers quickly tracing over the word chains. A few moments passed, but to all watching it felt as though hours had gone by. With one final finger swipe, the rune lit up in its entirety before it vanished completely.

Jaune and Yang both let out a loud gasp as they collapsed to the floor, smoke rising up from the ground around them and their own bodies. "Yang! Jaune! Are you two okay?!" Ruby shouted as she ran to her sister, while Weiss and Blake attempted to help Jaune to his feet.

"Heh... that was a... shocking experience!" Yang quipped as Ruby helped her up. Ruby promptly dropped her back on the ground for making such a stupid pun.

"Yang... thanks for helping me get through that... I just wish you didn't, because that was so painful..." Jaune coughed as he leaned against the alley wall, a weak smile gracing his face.

"Aah, don't sweat it. It's what friends are for."

"Yes yes, lovely vibes all around. However, Arc, I suggest you shift back into your human form so we can get you medical treatment. I would prefer not watching one of my classmates slowly bleed out in front of me." Weiss stated as she began walking out of the alley.

"Right... should probably get on that..." Jaune replied as he turned back into a human, nearly collapsing again as he did.

As the five of them began walking to the nearest medical center, they began conversing about the interesting individual they had all met.

"So, that new henchwoman of Torchwicks looks really freakin' weird. Pink and brown? Talk about a fashion disaster." Yang said as she pulled Jaune closer, allowing him to lean on her if he needed to.

"Yeah, and did you see the way she just appeared and disappeared? It's like she was using some kind of teleporter."

"That's because she was." Jaune coughed as they continued walking, getting a few inquisitive stares from everyone. "She wasn't human."

Everyone's mouths collectively dropped as they looked between each other, then back at Jaune. "WAS SHE ANOTHER DRAGON?!" Ruby shouted while flailing her arms.

"...No, she was a Fae. Something a lot worse than me."

"Clearly she was FAR worse than you, given how she looks as if she nearly killed you." Weiss replied dryly as they continued on. "What exactly is a Fae?"

"Fae, Fairy, Nymph. They're all the same thing really, magical creatures that can take just about any form you can think of. They mostly tend to stay as either humans or faunus, but they can sometimes look like the little winged people that are in the fairy tales." Jaune paused for a moment to breath deeply, his gut screaming out in pain as he did. "Let me make this perfectly clear, if you guys ever see her again, run. Whatever you read in the books, they're wrong. Fae are extremely deadly when engaged in combat, and they get a kick out of playing and torturing their opponents. I think she was using dimensional magic, which lets her move herself and other people around in the blink of an eye."

"I could probably take her..." Yang grumbled, which caused Jaune to stop in his tracks. "...Jaune?"

"Yang. Do not ever fight her. She almost killed me tonight. She would have killed me, if it wasn't for you guys destroying Torchwicks robot suit. When we saw the explosion, she turned back to me with a panicked look on her face before she vanished. Next thing I know, she's in front of you guys defending Torchwick and helping him escape. She was so far out of my league that it scared me. She pushed me to my limits, and even when I was fighting with my last bit of strength, she treated it like it was a game. Do. Not. Fight. Her. EVER."

Yang looked into his eyes and felt her own stern expression soften a bit. "O-okay Jaune... I uh... I won't. I promise."

"You say she panicked when she saw that Torchwick was in danger? Interesting. Could she care for him that much that she would give up on her target?" Blake pondered out loud as they stopped in front of the medical center.

"Don't know, and I don't really care. Nor do I ever want to see her again to possibly find out."

Blake turned to Jaune and narrowed her eyes. "She must have been powerful if she's scared you this much."

"She almost killed me, and she has knowledge of runes. You bet your kitty ears I'm scared of her." Jaune hacked up another spurt of blood as he finished, prompting Yang's interference.

"Look, we can all talk about how much of a sissy Jaune is later, right now we need to make sure the dude isn't leaking all his blood into the rest of his body."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they brought Jaune into the clinic. A few hours later, they had all returned to Beacon with a much healthier Jaune in tow. While he did have internal bleeding, his aura had mostly patched it up by the time they had gotten to the clinic. The blood he had been coughing up was mostly leftover from the few punctures and lacerations closing, and was deemed normal and safe. A few aura boosting injections later, and the dragon-human was given a few pats on the back and a doctors note to get him out of class tomorrow.

After a good nights rest and the inevitable explanation of where he had gone and why he had come back beaten to a bloody pulp, Jaune would hopefully be prepared to face whatever the next day would bring.

And he already had a feeling what said day would throw at him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

And now for a brief announcement!

We're going on a small hiatus until around next Thursday/Friday. My birthday is coming up on the 30th of September, so I'm going to be taking a bit of a break by extending my usual quota. So as a result, you guys get this chapter early!

So now we know that Neo isn't normal. Will we ever see her again? Maybe. But that's not a big concern anymore, because we've got a DANCE coming up! Wooh!


	28. Extracurricular Draketivity

"Man, what the heck was up with that guy?" Jaune mumbled to himself as he watched the exchange students Mercury and Emerald walk out of the classroom. Mercury had volunteered to fight Pyrrha in a practice match, where he almost immediately surrendered almost as soon as the fight started. He also looked and sounded really smug about doing so.

There was something about those two that just rubbed him the wrong way, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He found himself distracted for a moment though, when he saw Sun slink past him, the poor guy looking as if he just had his heart ripped out via rejection. He knew that feeling all too well.

Turning to where he had come from, he noticed a particularly angry looking Blake storming off towards the dorms. The rest of her friends all looked among themselves anxiously before they broke off from each other, a wave of other students washing them out of his sight.

It was then that Jaune remembered what he had actually wanted to do today. He wanted to practice his swordsmanship skills, and there was one person that he knew who was far better than any other at helping him with that.

He began searching around campus, sifting through the packs of students as he walked around. He was looking for a very specific person, whom he knew wouldn't be too hard to pick out from the rest of the crowd. His eyes continued to scan through the students that were filing around the campus before he picked out a particularly white head of hair that had a long ponytail strung up on the side.

He quickly pushed through a few groups of students in pursuit of the white headed student, calling out to her as he finally squeezed through the pack.

"Weiss!" He found that she didn't hear him however, as she continued walking. Or at least, that's what he assumed as he broke out into a run towards her. In reality, she was just pretending to have not heard him on the off chance that he would get swept up in another crowd of students and carried off somewhere else.

"Hey Weiss, hold up a second!" He called out again as he ran up to her.

She groaned to herself as the blonde caught up to her, panting as he slowed to a stop. "What do you want, Arc?"

"I uh, I was wondering if-"

"No."

"But I didn't get to even-"

"I said, No."

Jaune's shoulders drooped, along with the rest of his posture. Turning slowly, he began to slink away in defeat. "I guess I'll just go ask Blake instead..." He sighted softly.

Weiss simply waved a hand as if to swat him away. "Yes, go do that. I'm sure she would love to go out with you."

Jaune stopped in his tracks. "I wasn't going to ask her out, I was going to ask her for advice on how to sword fight better."

Weiss's eyes snapped open, and she felt her jaw droop a little bit. She spun around quickly and saw that Jaune was still facing away from her. "What?"

Jaune turned around to face the heiress, a look of defeat firmly planted onto his face. "Yeah... I wanted to ask you first, since Blake's style of sword fighting isn't really my kind of thing. Yours always seemed so much more calculated and graceful, and I thought maybe I could learn some tips. But, I understand if you don't want to."

Weiss was completely dumbfounded. Jaune Arc, a dragon, was coming to her for swordsmanship advice. He was already more powerful than her, yet he was still asking her for help. "Is this some kind of attempt to ridicule me?"

He cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head a bit in response. "No? Why would I do something like that?"

"You are a dragon. Why do you need help with anything at all?"

"I'm a dragon, not some kind of GOD, Weiss. There's still stuff I don't know and can't do."

Weiss eyed him up and down, skeptically. "And why did you not go to Pyrrha for this?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head, his body shifting its weight to the side nervously under her icy gaze. "Well... Pyrrha doesn't exactly fight with a sword. She fights with a... javelin... rifle... thing. And uh, when Pyrrha trains me, she doesn't really give me clear instructions. She just kinda... beats the knowledge into me." He paused for a moment and held his hands out in front of his chest. "Uh, not that I'm saying she doesn't give me ANY tips! She's just... more of a hands on approach kind of trainer."

She laughed a bit to herself, this mighty dragon was coming to her to ask for advice on anything. Regardless of whatever he just said, she really didn't care. There was no way that she was going to waste time on someone like him. It was probably just an elaborate attempt to beat her in even more sparring matches. But...

She did want to find out what was going on between him and Yang, and the best way to do that would be to actually... engage in conversation with him. And while just thinking that sent shivers up her spine, a good way of doing that without people seeing them would be in the privacy of a training room.

Jaune watched with confusion as Weiss reached into her bag and pulled out a pen and paper before she began furiously scribbling on it. As soon as she finished, she marched toward him all while giving him an earful. "If you really think someone of my caliber would waste their time on someone such as you, you are living in a dream world that only the most incompetent of idiots live in." She shoved the paper into his hands before she spun on her heel and marched off, still talking as she did. "Now go away and leave me ALONE."

He stared at the heiress as she stomped away in disbelief. "Jeez, Weiss... you coulda just said no..." He muttered to himself before he crumpled the paper in his hand slightly. With a sigh, he brought the paper up to his chest and unfolded it. His eyes glossed over the writing on the paper, the cursive writing confusing him a bit as he never really read cursive all that much, before he scratched his head in confusion.

"Meet me in training room C-8 in two hours. Tell nobody, and come alone." The note was signed with her name at the very bottom. He briefly questioned why she wrote her name if she wanted to keep it a secret, but shrugged it off as he stuffed the paper in his pocket.

* * *

Jaune stood in front of the training room and breathed deeply. He was a little nervous about receiving training from Weiss of all people, the heiress who had gone through so many specialized courses all throughout her childhood. The image of the heiress in a drill instructors uniform briefly materialized in his head before he shook it out. Refusing to let his mind wander anymore, he quickly grabbed the door handle and turned it. He quickly rushed inside the training room and closed the door behind him. Weiss was waiting for him on the other side, tapping her foot rather impatiently.

"You're late."

"Huh?" He responded before glancing down at his watch. "Actually, I'm five minutes early." He stated as he pointed to it.

"O-oh." She responded, before she asked another question. "Nobody saw you, right?"

"Uh, no. Why, were you being followed or something?"

"No. I just don't want people to see us together, that's all." She bluntly stated, causing his shoulders to droop a bit.

"Oh. Okay." He sighed as he walked into the room and began stretching a bit. Weiss had positioned herself in the ring and was beginning to look even more impatient by the second.

She finally let out a groan, placing a hand on the side of her face as she did. "Will you hurry up already? My schedule is packed today."

Jaune let out a sigh as he finished. "Sorry. Old habits with Yang, y'know?"

"Hmm." She hummed in response before she raised her weapon. "Very well, step forward and ready your weapons."

Ready his weapons? What did she mean by that? They weren't supposed to be sparring! "W-wait, Why do I need to ready my weapons? Didn't I say that the hands on approach wasn't working?!"

"In order to give you a proper evaluation on what you need to work on, I need to engage you in combat. Just watching you flail around in class doesn't help." Not that she ever paid any attention while watching him. But that was beside the point.

Jaune quickly pulled out his sword and shifted his sheathe into a shield. "Uuh... Okay, if you say so." He stated with a bit of anxiety behind his voice. He really didn't plan on fighting with Weiss today.

They stood still and stared at each other for a few moments before Weiss spoke again. "Well? Are we doing this today, or tonight? Begin already."

Jaune gulped nervously before he nodded and charged forward, his hand gripped tightly around his sword as he swung it vertically at Weiss. The heiress easily side-stepped the attack and gazed down at the blonde in shock.

He sucked. Well, perhaps maybe she was being a bit too cruel. He seemed to grasp the basics well enough, but he executed them sloppily and with no power behind the attacks he threw out. Just from that one attack, she was able to read so much about his fighting style or rather, lack thereof. She didn't even bother to counter attack, instead she allowed him to recover from his miss.

He lifted his sword off the ground and lashed out with a horizontal slash aimed at her stomach. This time she blocked the attack, their weapons hissing as they struggled to overpower one another. Weiss quickly slid her weapon downward, the dust chamber smacking into Jaune's blade from above. With a yelp, Jaune found his sword knocked out of his hand, leaving him with only his shield.

She stared at him for a moment in continued disbelief before she shook her head and charged forward. She went in with a quick and simply stab, which Jaune blocked with his shield. She continued to follow up with a few more stabs, striking out with more strength behind the attacks with every blow. Jaune easily managed to keep the onslaught focused on his shield before he lowered it and swung his fist at her. The heiress rolled her eyes as she smacked the hand away with her rapier, causing Jaune to stumble sideways.

Seeing an opening, Weiss stuck the tip of her rapier into the ground, a sheet of ice surging out towards Jaune. The ice blanketed the ground beneath his feet, his balance immediately being lost as he set a foot down on the now frozen floor, causing it to slip out from underneath him. He landed on his back with a thud and a groan, his shield leaving his hand almost as soon as he hit the floor.

As he tried to scramble to his feet, he paused at the sight in front of him. With a nervous gulp, his eyes glanced down to the tip of Weiss's rapier, which was now aimed at his face. "Concede." She demanded before inching the tip of her weapon closer. He quickly followed her instructions and surrendered.

"Okay, I give."

Weiss seemed to accept his surrender as she pulled the weapon away from him and allowed him to stand up. "See what I mean though? I suck." He stated glumly as he lifted himself off the ground.

She hummed a bit in response before she glanced at his weapons, still lying on the floor. He was actually being serious. Unless he was just really good at acting like he didn't know how to fight, which she highly doubted for some strange reason. She actually felt a bit bad for him now. Just enough to make her forget about her original purpose for even agreeing to help him at all.

She turned her head back to him and began to give him advice. "The first piece of advice I have for you is that you need to use your shield more."

"Huh? What do you mean? I was using it to block."

"Shields are not only used for blocking, they are also used for creating openings. Have you ever noticed that Pyrrha uses her shield to force her opponents to stumble? Or perhaps how she uses it to push weapons out of her way before striking with her javelin."

"Hmmm..." He placed a finger on his chin as he gazed down at his shield. It's true that he had only thought it good for blocking. That was certainly good advice.

"The second piece of advice I have for you is that you lack strength behind your attacks. You seem to be holding back when you attack me, and while I would normally think this is because of your... views on me as a person, this proves not to be the case when you are in your Draconian form."

Jaune nodded a furiously as he magically pulled out a small notepad from seemingly nowhere and began taking notes. Weiss sighed in response, but was at least relieved to see that he wasn't just messing with her when he originally asked for help. As he continued to write down the information that she had given him, Weiss walked over to her purse and pulled out her scroll. Upon checking the time, she realized that she needed to get to the dining hall soon.

"Very well then, I think that will be good enough for today." She said as she placed her scroll back in her purse and picked it up. She grit her teeth as she forced herself to speak. "Don't contact me, I'll contact you." She stated as she began walking towards the door.

Jaune stopped writing on his notepad when he heard that, his eyes widening as he turned to see the heiress leaving. "W-wait that's it?! That's all you're teaching me?!"

Weiss rolled her eyes as she stopped at the door. "Correct. I'm needed at the dining hall, since I am one of the two in charge of planning for the dance."

Jaune thought he heard glass shattering for a moment. "D-d-dance?"

"Yes, Yang and I are planning the event, which is going to be in a few days." She turned to reach for the doorknob before she turned back to him. "And before you ask, no. I will not go with you." She quickly opened the door and left him to his thoughts.

"Oh god. THAT'S the event I was thinking of... a dance... with Yang..." He smiled without even realizing it. "That sounds really good. Yeah... Yeah, that'd be a perfect second date!"

He quickly folded his shield up into a sheath and stowed his sword in it, hooking them both onto his belt. With a bit of a spring in his step, Jaune quickly left the training room and began thinking of a way he could ask Yang to the dance.

After all, the chances of her saying yes improved drastically if he made it a bit of a show, right? That's how it works when you ask for a woman's hand in marriage, anyway. The situations are similar enough for the same rules to apply, right?

But what exactly could he do...? "Wait a second... I know what I can do!" He thought to himself as he began picking up his pace. "Yeah... that old trick that dad used when he proposed to mom! That'll work!"

He wouldn't let this opportunity pass him by. He was going to take a page from Yang's book and just rush headfirst into this and throw everything he had at it.

And he knew just the perfect place to set everything up at, too.

* * *

Jaune groaned as he stood up and stretched. He was having trouble setting up his little display, the task being much harder then he wanted it to be. The amount of wood he needed to get this set up was a lot more than he initially planned on using, especially since he didn't want to destroy too many trees. With an annoyed grunt, he bent back over and began carving another log into a plank with his claws. The process was lengthy, but it would all be worth it in the end when she couldn't resist his proposal and agreed to going with him. Hopefully this would be the last one though, because his claws were beginning to ache from all the carving he was using them for.

"Chirp!"

Jaune's head snapped to the side, his eyes settling upon a small, black raven sitting on his work-in-progress display. The bird was eyeing him very cautiously before it began pecking at the wood it was standing on. Not wanting to let the bird sit there and possibly ruin his work, Jaune got up and approached the bird, waving his arms at it as he did.

"Shoo! Get out of here!"

His intimidation tactic failed, as the bird simply remained on the wood, tilting its head to the side while staring at the dragon. Jaune's eyes narrowed as he stared at the bird. Why exactly was this bird completely unphased by a dragon trying to scare it off?

It wasn't until he noticed that the bird wasn't a normal raven did he see why it didn't fear him. It had a bits of white forming on its head, almost as if it were a infantile Nevermore. Not wanting to take the chance of that thought being correct, he reached out for it in an attempt to scare it off again.

The nevermore responded by nipping at his fingers, causing him to reel his hand back in pain. He growled at the grimm before simply swinging his tail at the bird, this attack forcing it to fly away in order to avoid being hit. He watched as the tiny nevermore perched itself on a nearby tree. With a satisfied nod, he went back to work.

The nevermore didn't bother him after that, allowing him to finally finish his building project as it silently watched him from afar.

Jaune dusted his hands off as he appreciated his work. Now all that was left was to get Yang out here so he could pop the question. Well, that was actually the easy part. The harder part would be actually pulling off this whole crazy idea without screwing it up. He gulped nervously as he shifted back into his human form, his hand diving into his pocket to retrieve his scroll. With a few button presses, he began texting Yang.

"Hey Yang, I need you to come to the cliff by the EF. It's an emergency."

"Ok. What's wrong?"

"Can't tell you here. Just come ASAP."

"On my way now."

Jaune stowed his scroll in his pocket and began nervously pacing back and forth. Unbeknownst to him, the same nevermore from earlier had perched itself up on top of his structure. The grimm eyed him carefully for a few more seconds before it flew off towards the school itself. If Jaune had actually seen the bird, he would have most likely questioned why a grimm would be flying straight towards a school filled with huntsman in training, especially one of that small stature. But his mind was more focused on Yang.

A few minutes passed before Jaune heard footsteps approaching.

"Jaune? What's up?"

His eyes widened and his palms started to feel a bit clammy as he heard Yang's voice. "Stay calm, Jaune. Just... just roll with it." He told himself as he held a hand up to his face and breathed fire into it.

His glove mostly protected his softer human flesh from the flames as he turned to his project and tossed the small fireball onto the wooden structure, setting it ablaze. He nodded as he stared at the structure that was now ablaze and turned back to the dirt path.

"I'm over here, Yang!"

She quickly hurried over to the clearing when she heard him call out for him. Whatever emergency it was, it must have been an important one for him to not say anything over the phone. Could someone else have found out about his secret? Could that fairy have found out his identity and tracked him to the school? Were there more mythical creatures secretly floating around Vale and had it become his duty to make sure they stayed safe?

Or maybe it could have been a... flaming heart?

"What. The. Hell." She blurted out as she stared at the flaming wooden heart that was on the edge of the cliff, one Noodley looking Jaune standing in front of it, shaking slightly.

"H-hi Ya-Yang. I uh... I... well, here's the uh, the emergency!" He stated as he held his arms out, as if to gesture to the giant flaming heart behind him.

Yang couldn't really think up of any kind of a response at this point. What could she say? Well, she could probably make a really great pun about fire, but she couldn't really force herself to speak right now. She could only watch as Jaune walked up to her and cleared his throat.

"So. I uh, I called you out here because I need to ask you probably the most important question I'll ever ask anyone in my entire life." He paused for a moment as he held out a hand.

"Yang Xiao Long, will you go to the dance with me?"

Jaune felt his stomach heave as the words left his mouth. Yang looked as if hers did the same as her face flushed red. Something that he never thought he would ever see, after all how could someone as confident as Yang ever get flustered?

"Damn. You really went all out for this." She muttered as she gazed behind him, the wooden heart from before still smoldering. "Don't think I've ever had a guy go this far just to ask me to a dance."

Jaune's eyes sparkled a bit. "So does that mean-" He paused when he felt Yang's hand grab onto the front of his jacket.

She pulled him towards her and planted a kiss on his cheek. The action nearly sent him into orbit as he felt her lips move against his skin. But Yang wasn't finished when her lips left his skin, instead her head traveled closely to his left ear, her breath passing into it as she whispered to him. "Hell yes."

And then everything went black.

Yang stared at her future date as he lay unconscious on the ground, his face completely pink. She cracked a smile at the huge grin that was plastered on his face, his happiness clearly expressed even while passed out.

She laughed to herself as she sat down next to the boy while facing his still smoldering heart. It looked as if it took him at least a few hours to put together, and judging by how the nearby trees seemed to be missing a few of their leafy brethren, she could only assume that he had cut them down to construct such a thing.

"Heh. Jaune Arc, you're a lucky guy." She said to herself as she turned her body and glanced down at the still unconscious boy. "And I guess I am too... Wait, that came out wrong. I'm a lucky girl. Anyone would be if they had a guy who is willing to put this much work into impressing them."

Now she was looking forward to the dance even more than before. But there was still a problem that she had to deal with.

A problem with her "purrcarious" partner.


	29. Dragon Dance

Neo sat on the bed with a pout on her face. She didn't like being in trouble, especially not when it wasn't her fault. It was Roman's fault that she had to ditch her quarry. Of course, it wasn't that she minded having to drop everything for Roman. She'd done it before and she'd probably do it again, but being stared at by Cinder was a horrible punishment. Her eyes just drilled right through your soul. Her two lackeys couldn't care less, instead opting to just lay around the room. Mercury was reading another comic, mostly because he had taken an interest in the series from the first one he had apparently stolen from the bookstore they murdered some guy at. And Emerald was... well, she didn't care about what Emerald was doing. Mercury was a fun guy, but Emerald and Cinder were so BORING. They wouldn't even let her track down the ones that hurt Roman so she could slaughter them.

Neo's train of thought was interrupted when she heard the sounds of tapping on a window. Her eyes darted to said window and took in the sight of a tiny Nevermore standing behind the glass. It continued to tap on the window with its beak, annoying the Fae criminal greatly. Cinder followed her gaze, her eyes narrowing when she took in the sight of the Grimm.

"Mercury, Emerald, Neo." She began, grabbing everyone's attention. "Leave the room until further notice."

Neo rolled her eyes before she vanished from sight, while Emerald followed the order without question. But Mercury, however, complained repeatedly as Emerald pulled him out of the room. Cinder's gaze never left the small grimm as she opened the window to allow it into their room.

The nevermore chirped before it flew in, landing on the desk that was close to the window. Cinder followed the bird to the desk and sat down in front of it, giving it a small pat on the head as she did so. The bird chirped a few times in response, before Cinder nodded. Then, she began to speak to it.

"Yes, the Fae has failed in her mission." She stated, the nevermore cleaning its wing for a brief moment before it chirped once again as if to respond to her. She nodded before continuing. "She abandoned her kill to save that idiotic Torchwick. But we did find out that the Dragon is possibly stationed at Beacon, as he came to defend who we assume are his friends who also attend this school."

The Nevermore tilted its head before it chirped in response. Cinder cocked an eyebrow in return. "You say that as if you know who the Dragon is..." The bird chirped again, and this time Cinder smiled in response. "Of course, I should have known not to doubt you. What shall I do then?"

The Nevermore shook its head for a moment and nipped at its wings once more, not uttering a single noise as it did so. Cinder's eyes narrowed a bit as she stared at the creature, before finally it chirped again. "You will take care of him? We are more than capable of doing so after tonights-" The bird ruffled its feathers and chirped. Cinder paused for a moment and nodded in return. "Very well. What is his name, and where do you want him sent?"

The bird chirped a few times before it lifted off the desk and flew back to the open window. It turned back to her for a moment and allowed her the chance to speak. "He will be there, and your children will feed." The bird seemed satisfied by this, as it chirped once more before it flew out the window.

Cinder sat motionless for a short time before she got up and walked to the window. She didn't doubt her skills in finding out information, after all she had eyes and ears everywhere. But would the Grimm be enough to kill a dragon? Her children as she called them, were strong in numbers yes, but as far as she understood Dragons could easily take on hundreds of your average Grimm. But she would not doubt her, she had allowed her to come this far after all. She had been given so much power, and she trusted her to give her so much more. Cinder smiled briefly before she shut the window and began texting for her "team" to return to the dorms.

She would need to finish preparations for the next step in their plan. As it would be set in motion, tonight.

* * *

The day of the dance arrived, and it was one that Jaune was both anticipating and dreading the most. He had actually vomited a few times in the bathroom from nerves alone. It was best to get it all out now though, as he would never be able to live it down if he were to do so on his date. And he meant that in a multitude of ways. Most of the day was spent just preparing his tux, which had been a very painful process. Ren had dragged him down to Vale where the two of them were fitted at a professional, which resulted in hours of standing. Jaune was a bit worried that he wouldn't have enough energy left for the dance as the time slowly ticked on.

And then it all seemed to stand still as he stood outside of the dance hall that very night. He felt the urge to vomit one last time, which he quickly swallowed while also managing to hold it down. Tonight, he would be a different Jaune Arc. He would be more suave, handsome and... cool.

"Alright, Jaune. Here we go." He took a deep breath as he stepped forward, looking up at the two doors that would act as his portal into tonights event.

After straightening his tie for the fifth time, he took another deep breath before pushing the door open... only to have it not budge. He let out a disgruntled sigh as he grabbed the handle and pulled, the door opening as he did. "Please let that not be a jinx for tonight." He thought to himself as he walked into the dance hall. Although his thoughts were completely pushed out of his head when his eyes settled upon the vision of his date.

"Hey Noodle, lookin' good in that suit!" She said with a wave as she stood behind a podium, not that Jaune saw or heard anything.

She noticed him staring completely wide eyed at her and giggled to herself. As easy as he had made it to tease him right now, she decided to not ruin the moment and just let him take her in. After all, something as beautiful as herself should be appreciated to its full extent, right? After a few more moments of silence, she decided that she would attempt to get his attention on her face rather than the rest of her body by clearing her throat loudly.

Jaune shook his head to rearrange his brain before looking up at Yang. "Sorry. You look... just... wow."

"Wow, huh? Is that better than stunning or beautiful?" Yang purred as she leaned on the podium.

"Uh. By a long shot, yeah."

"Hmm." She hummed before smiling again. "Guess I'll take your word for it!"

He smiled back at her, his eyes lighting up a bit. "You shouldn't, because words can't describe how good you look in that dress."

"Okay dude, trying too hard now." She laughed, the sound causing his cheeks to redden a bit.

"Sorry." He glanced down at her dress, the clothing looking whiter than a ghost. His right eyebrow raised as he glanced back up at her. "Uh, can I ask why it's a white dress? I expected you to show up in yellow."

Yang's mood turned a bit sour at the question, her hands folding across her chest as she looked away from him and pouted. "Jee, I dunno. Why don't you go ask Weiss why she has a yellow skirt mixed in with all her other white ones now?"

Jaune tried to stifle his laughter by placing a hand over his mouth, but he found himself unable to as he laughed at Yang's misfortune. The blonde brawler looked visibly annoyed at his laughter, but gave him a playful smirk. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up now, Noodle. We'll see who has the last laugh by the end of the night."

"So, what's on the schedule for tonight?" Jaune asked as he managed to straighten himself out and stop his laughter. He glanced around a bit to see that the dance was, so far, quiet. Most of the students were simply chatting with one another, the professors following their example as well. Oobleck and Port could be seen having a conversation among themselves, Ports boisterous laughter ringing out on occasion. While Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were both situated on the wall with one another before a man in a white suit came up to her and offered a hand. Jaune laughed a bit to himself, expecting the man to be insane for trying to get someone like Professor Goodwitch to dance with him. But to his shock, the Professor seemed to eagerly accept his offer as the two of them made their way onto the dance floor.

"Well, I've gotta stick around here for a little bit longer. Ice Queen got floor duty while I got door duty up until everyone on the list arrives." Yang's eyes slowly widened and lit up near the end of her explanation, her head tilting to the side so she could get a better look of who was standing behind Jaune. "And here's one of the guests of honor!"

Jaune's eyebrow went back up as he turned around, curious as to who Yang would be talking about. His eyes instantly locked onto the figure of Blake Belladonna, adorned in a dark purple dress that would have made his jaw drop if he wasn't trying to get into a relationship with Yang. "Me-ow! Lookin' good, Blake!" Yang called out from behind, causing both Jaune and Blake to roll their eyes at her "cat" calling. Sun soon entered as well, the third blonde wearing a black t-shirt and his standard jeans, his outfit also having a white tie wrapped around his neck as if to make him look classier.

"Uuh... ye-yeah, you guys both look great." Jaune managed to stutter as he watched the two of them walk by, not noticing the wink that Yang gave to her partner as they passed.

As Yang watched the two head into the crowd, she couldn't help but catch sight of her sister sitting at the punch bowl all alone. She frowned a bit, wishing that her sister would actually walk around and socialize. But, she knew that wouldn't happen. So instead, she would have to think of another way to get Ruby to enjoy her evening a little more. And her answer was standing right in front of her. With a glimmer of light in her eyes, Yang turned to Jaune and smiled. He needed a way to kill time anyways, so why not do it with one of his best friends? "Hey, Jaune. Why don't you head over to the punch bowl and get a drink while you wait for me, huh?"

Jaune glanced towards the bowl. "Uh, what?" When his eyes turned back to Yang, she saw a very disgruntled look on her face as she nodded her head back to the punch bowl a few times. When he looked back over to it, he finally found the detail that she had wanted him to pay attention to. He understood almost immediately, having lurked around many punch bowls before. "Oh uh, yeah. I'm pretty thirsty anyways." He stated as he gave Yang small wave and walked away.

Yang rolled her eyes as she returned to leaning against the podium. "Boy, I'll say."

Jaune made his way over to the punch bowl, where he spied Ruby still hovering over it. He briefly took in her red dress and matching heels, noting that she looked quite adorable as she idly drank from a plastic cup she held in her hand while trying to maintain her balance. She visibly perked up when she saw him heading towards her, waving her free hand at him lazily as she took another sip from her cup. Jaune took it upon himself to pour himself a cup of the punch before he stood next to his friend. "So, I see you're hiding by the punch bowl."

"Yep." Ruby said, her lips making a popping noise as she finished the word. She briefly glanced back towards the entrance, her eyes settling upon her sister, before she turned back to Jaune. "How come you're not with Yang?"

Jaune shook his cup in a few circles, watching the liquid move with the motion. "She told me to just wait for her to be done with her door duty. So, here I am. Being socially awkward until then!"

Ruby let out a giggle as she held up her cup. "To the socially awkward?"

Jaune smirked. "To the socially awkward." He parroted back before the two of them clinked their plastic cups together and took another drink. The two of them stood there for a little while longer in silence before Jaune decided to engage in some more conversation to pass the time. "So, are Weiss and Neptune enjoying themselves?"

Ruby looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "What do you mean?"

"U-uh... Well, didn't they come together? I know she was really into his "cool guy" shtick."

Ruby shook her head. "Weiss came to the dance alone."

Jaune's eyes widened as he turned his head, his eyes scanning the hall until they found Weiss. She was at a table, attempting to get a drooping white rose to stay upright. The rose drooped each time she tried, and on the third attempt the heiress curled her hands into fists before she slumped over like the flower had and walked away. His eyes continued to stay locked onto her as she sat in a seat, her face slowly softening as she looked at someone in the crowd. Turning his gaze to where she was looking, he saw that Neptune was with Sun and Blake, the three of them laughing and enjoying themselves as the heiress sulked and watched. "-had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

Jaune blinked a few times before he turned to Ruby. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said she told me that she had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

Jaune continued to watch as Sun and Blake separated from Neptune, the two of them heading to the dance floor. Neptune briefly turned his head to where Weiss was sitting, his face instantly melting into a dejected frown. The blue haired boy turned away quickly and slunk towards the stairs, no doubt going to the balcony to sulk just like Weiss was. Jaune felt a mixture of pity and anger flow through him for a moment. He gripped his cup with a bit more force before handing it to Ruby. "Ruby, can you hold my punch for a moment?" He asked, and without even waiting for an answer he walked off.

As Jaune climbed up the stairs, he briefly thought about why he was about to do this. Perhaps it was because he felt bad about all the times he bothered Weiss with his flirting, or perhaps maybe he wanted to give the girl he thought he once loved a little bit of happiness in her life. She probably needed it, given the fact that she was always so crabby whenever he tried to interact with her. Once he had ascended the stairs, he stepped out onto the balcony to see that Neptune was leaning against the railing as he looked out into the night sky. Jaune cleared his throat, getting the blue haired boys attention before offering him a wave.

Neptune waved back weakly before offering an equally weak smile. "Hey, uh, Jaune. What's up?"

Jaune began to approach him, slowly walking up to his side before leaning on the rail. "Not much. Just, y'know. Getting away from the party for a bit."

"Heh, yeah this party's pretty lame, huh?" Neptune nudged Jaune's arm. "I mean, ballroom dancing. Pfft."

Jaune didn't move an inch as he continued staring out into the night. "Yeah. I guess."

Neptune looked away from Jaune for a moment, uneasy by the presence of another person. In an attempt to calm himself, he continued on with his conversation. "Cute girls, though, huh?" He said as he nodded his head back towards the hall. Jaune lowered his head a bit and chuckled a bit before he pushed himself away from the railing and turned to Neptune.

"Yeah. But I guess you've got your hands full with Weiss, right?"

Neptune seemed to be stunned by that, as the blue haired teen didn't respond for a moment. Soon, his head lowered a bit more as he gazed off of the balcony and looked at the ground below them. "I uh... I didn't come with Weiss. Or anyone, for that matter."

Jaune felt his jaw drop. "Wh-what? Why would you do that? There had to have been someone that asked you!"

"Y-yeah... Weiss did... I turned her down."

"WHAT?!" Jaune shouted before he managed to lower his voice. "Why did you turn Weiss Schnee down?!"

Neptune turned away from him and hid his face with his hand. "I can't dance!"

Jaune blinked a few times before he made sure that he wasn't hearing things. "Beg your pardon?"

"I can't dance, man!"

"But..." Jaune briefly gestured to him. "...you're so cool!"

"Thank you. I try really, really hard." Neptune sniffled a little as he responded.

"So wait, wait. Let me get this straight, you would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

Neptune folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "That about sums it up, yeah."

"I can't believe I was actually kinda jealous of this guy when I first saw him." Jaune thought to himself for a moment before he spoke. "Look... you can't just do something like that, man. She's not going to care if you can't dance!"

"But-"

"Neptune. Do you like her?"

Neptune lifted a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I mean I don't know her too well yet, but she seems pretty cool."

"Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself."

"Yeah, but then-"

"Listen." Jaune interrupted. "You don't have to try and look cool all the time. Being yourself is just as important, if not more important. I used to think that acting cool and confident was the way to go, too. But... I found out that it wasn't."

Neptune brought a hand to his chin and went into a temporary state of deep contemplation before he finally grit his teeth and nodded. "Yeah. You're right."

Jaune smiled in response. "Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night."

Neptune smiled as well, holding out his fist in front of him. "Thanks. You're a really cool guy, Jaune."

"Heh, yeah. Maybe when I'm a dragon." Jaune chuckled as he held out his own fist and bumped it against Neptune's.

"Nah, dude. You're cool all the time."

Both Jaune and Neptune returned to the hall, only to take in the sight of Yang and Blake slow dancing on the dance floor. The two of them caught sight of Sun, who seemed to be watching as he drank from a plastic cup. The three of them grouped together and they all shared a silent nod as if they knew what the situation was about without even having to speak. In actuality, none of them knew what was going on.

"Jaaune!"

The three of them turned around to see one Nora Valkyrie lunge at her blonde team leader, wrapping her arms around his neck as she hugged him. Ren followed closely behind her, giving them all another silent nod which Neptun and Sun returned. Jaune however, was a little shocked by the absence of his own partner. "Uh, hey guys. Where's Pyrrha?"

"Oh, she's coming a bit later! She should be here soon though!"

Sun straightened out his tie a little as he inserted himself into the conversation. "Cool, so who's she coming with? Don't think I saw her talking to any other guys recently."

Both Nora and Ren shared a nervous glance before Nora opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey there, Jaune! Ready to dance?"

Before she was interrupted by Yang waltzing over and wrapping an arm around Jaune's neck. Blake had followed her, choosing to stand next to Sun as she looked him in the eyes and nudged her head towards the nearby seats. As the two of them sat down, Weiss approached and decided to take a seat next to her teammate. Blake glanced over at the heiress and noticed the sorrowful look on her face. "Weiss? Are you alright?"

"I'm just fine, Blake. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that-" Before she could finish, the speakers around the hall began to blare music, drawing a great number of the students onto the dance floor as the next song started.

Jaune immediately recognized the song and grabbed hold of Yang's hand. "Oh man! I love this song! Come on, Yang!"

As her date began dragging her onto the dance floor, Yang let out a laugh. "Woah, calm down Jaune, the dance floors not going anywhere!"

 _Baby, it's time to make up your mind_  
 _I think that tonight is when our stars align_

Jaune and Yang found themselves lost in the music, just like they had during their first trip to the arcade. Only this time, they both had their arms wrapped firmly around each other as they began to follow the movement of each others legs and hips. Jaune quickly threw Yang forward, spinning her as he did. When she had reached arms length, she stopped for a brief moment before feeling Jaune pull her back to him. With another spin, Yang found herself back within her dates arms as they continued to dance.

 _Honey, it's time to leave the doubt behind_  
 _Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna shine_

A number of people stopped to watch the pair dance, among them were Blake, Sun, Weiss and Neptune. Neptune in particular was amazed that the dragon was so light on his feet as Jaune and Yang continued to follow each others rhythm in perfect synchronization. For a brief moment, Neptune gulped as he looked over at Weiss. He could feel himself starting to sweat a bit before he finally worked up his own courage to talk to her. Stepping forward, he held out a hand in front of Weiss.

"Care to dance, Snow Angel?"

Weiss blushed heavily as she looked at the hand, her eyes widening in surprise. "B-but, you said that you-"

"I know what I said. I'm fixing my mistake." Neptune gave her his trademark smirk, his teeth seemingly glittering as he did.

Weiss accepted his hand with a smile as she got up and followed him to the dance floor. Both Blake and Sun shared a glance before Blake sighed and gave him a very small smile. With a nod, the two of them got up and hopped onto the dance floor as well.

Meanwhile, Yang couldn't even begin to describe how amazing she felt. She had never actually danced with a boy before, let alone one that she was developing actual feelings for. She and her sister always skipped out on any of the dances that Signal hosted, and while she had thought about going to the dance that they had thrown for the students graduation, she had instead chosen to spend her night trashing a bar in Vale. But now in this moment, she just let the music wrap her up and carry her into bliss. It also gave her a little bit of time to think of how far Jaune had come, at least in her eyes. He went from being that scraggly looking dense, socially awkward best friend of her little sisters to a rather handsome, slightly less dense and amazing guy, all within the course of two semesters. And even though there was still so much they didn't know about each other, but for this one night it felt as if they had known each other for quite some time.

She felt as if she was under some sort of charming spell, with how fast she was falling for him. Were dragons capable of doing that? Because if they were, she would certainly suspect him of it. But she still kept her head on, mostly. As the two of them continued to dance, the first song ended and a slower song began. Their bodies followed suit, as they began to hug closer to each other and slowly sway from side to side. Now that things had gotten slower and more personal, she found that she had mostly regained her senses. And with them came her impish smirk as she prepared to tease her date while on the dance floor.

"So uh, Yang?" Jaune began "I uh, I wanna say, thanks for saying yes. This has been an amazing night for me. And I hope it's been for the same for you. I know I'm not really a suave charmer like Neptune over there..." The two of them briefly glanced over to the teen in question, watching him do some sort of awkward "dance" with Weiss, who seemed to be enjoying herself far more now. "Uuh... A-anyway, what I'm trying to say is, thanks for giving me a chance."

Yang smiled as she looked into Jaune's eyes, the dragon not noticing that one of her hands was starting to slowly drift lower and lower with every passing second. Jaune continued talking while attempting to not choke on his own words. "And uh, I know I can't really offer you anything like money or... muscles or anything cool but..." He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I can at least offer you myself. Even if I'm not that great when I'm a human."

Yang's smile turned into a grin as she spoke. "Ah, Jaune. Always worried about not being good enough. Listen, I'm the one who chose to give you a chance..." She started, as her hand briefly lifted itself off of Jaune. "And besides, you've certainly got something I want when you're a human..."

Jaune cocked an eyebrow as he stared at Yang's big grin. He knew she was up to something, but there was no way of telling what she was doing until it actually-

"AGH!" Jaune yelped as he felt Yang's hand grab his rear, the action causing him to try to pull away from her, but the blonde brawlers arms were much too strong to allow him to actually get away.

Weiss and Neptune glanced over at the pair as soon as Jaune let out his cry, the two of them confused for a moment. But Weiss quickly shifted her attention back to the blue haired teen who currently held her in his arms as they danced. She was enjoying herself so much, but there was one thought in the back of her mind that was bothering her. "So, what made you change your mind?"

Neptune glanced down at the heiress. "Huh?"

"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

Neptune smirked as he nodded his head towards Jaune and Yang. "You're lookin' at the guy."

Weiss's eyes widened as she watched Jaune and Yang dance together, hundreds of thoughts racing in her head all at once. The way she had treated him ever since school began, the way she treated him after she found out he was a dragon, and yet the dragon still came to her for help. And then he went so far as to help the guy she liked work up the nerves to dance with her, even if he couldn't do so himself. It had taken her this long to finally realize, but Jaune wasn't the annoying, narcissistic cheater that she had assumed she was. Instead, he was a genuinely nice guy that still saw her as a friend even after the way she had treated him.

"You've got some good friends looking out for ya, y'know?"

Weiss nodded as she turned her attention back to her dance partner. Perhaps there was still a chance for her to consider herself Jaune's friend.

The song began to slow to a stop as everyone on the dance floor finished up what would possibly be the last dance of the evening. Seeing this as his chance, Jaune let his dancing instincts take over. After all, it was now or never. And in one final movement as the song ended, he swept Yang off her feet and held her in his arms the same exact way he had the first day they went to the arcade. The two of them stared at each other for the longest time, with neither of them willing to make a move or even say a word.

"This... this was too much... I- I can't do this now, this is only our second date! Oh god, I just screwed this up big time..." His thoughts were beginning to race at a million miles an hour, and he knew that he had to abort while there was still time to call it another fluke.

Jaune began raising Yang up, but found her body becoming heavier, like dead weight. In an instant, he felt her arms wrap around his neck and drag his head lower. "Not this time, Jaune." She whispered as she pulled him closer and closer until finally, their lips touched.

In that instant, the entire world completely vanished around them as they enjoyed the taste of each other. Both of them had clearly wanted to do this for quite some time, and tonight proved to be the perfect night for that. The rest of the hall completely froze up as everyone stared at the two students sucking each others faces rather romantically, the most shocked out of all being both of the couples teammates. Blake's jaw was practically on the floor, while Weiss seemed to have a more dignified yet still completely shocked reaction as her eyes threatened to pop out of her skull. Sun and Neptune both whooped and hollared, while Ren and Nora both stared at each other in an uneasy fashion.

From behind the two of them, they heard the two worst sounds that they had possibly heard in their entire lives. A gasp, followed by the sound of a a whimper. Both Ren and Nora turned to see their other teammate and friend, Pyrrha Nikos, staring in horror at the couple who was practically center stage, kissing each other in the spotlight.

And all at once, it felt like the world completely shattered.


	30. Heartbreak

Pyrrha froze up at the sight in front of her. Jaune and Yang, kissing while they danced. For a moment, she thought she might pass out. She could feel both her mind and her heart cracking slowly into pieces, water slowly forming around her eyes. She was losing herself already, not noticing that Ren and Nora had approached her and attempted to comfort her.

"Pyrrha?"

She didn't respond to whoever it was that wanted her attention, instead opting to just turn and walk out of the hall. Even after she had long since escaped the sight of anyone who would see her, she continued to quickly walk down the path back to the first year dormitories. Her legs felt far too weak to allow her the comfort of running away, yet not weak enough to keep her from walking. Where exactly had she gone wrong? She dropped hints and signals constantly, she was always as close as possible to him. Yet he never picked up on anything, instead he just focused all his time and attention onto Weiss Schnee. Something that made the gladiator secretly despise the heiress. It was a hatred that she had unknowingly created, her body locking up and her mood turning just a bit sour whenever she saw or spoke to the heiress.

But now she was finding out that not only was such hatred pitiful, it was also misplaced. Never did she think that Yang would swoop in and steal Jaune from her. She never even really saw Yang as someone who was interested in the opposite sex, mostly because of the fact that she never chose to pursue any of the males at the school. Instead she always seemed to make the occasional crude and sexual joke around her female friends. She had always just assumed that Yang would end up with either Weiss or Blake if she was going to end up with anyone they knew.

But there was a saying for those who made assumptions.

Her thoughts then shifted as to how she could have prevented it if she had just been up front with her feelings, but no, the perfect indestructible girl couldn't deal with such delicate things like that. For how perfect everyone thought she was, expressing herself properly had always been the thing she was the worst at. And now it had cost her the person she loved. She should have seen it coming, in all honesty. Now that she was remembering things clearly through her grief, she recalled the reveal of her partners true self, and how Yang was the one that found out about it first. And Yang was the one who helped him train. He had always gravitated towards Yang, moreso than his own team up until someone had apparently pointed it out to him without any of them realizing.

If only she had realized back then, maybe she could have pounced on the situation and defused it. But now...

As she slowly made her way back to her dorm, she stopped in front of the door. Her entire body began to shake as she slowly reached for the door knob.

But her hand never touched it.

The gladiator let out a cry as she turned and slammed her back against the wall, her body slowly sliding down as her hands covered her face. All the emotions that she had tried to repress or ignore had broken out of their prison, and now they flowed freely into the world.

"Pyrrha! What happened?!"

Pyrrha attempted to hide her face from whoever it was that had found her, but soon found her hands being ripped from their position by another set. Glancing into the eyes of the person who disturbed her during her grief, she gazed into the silver eyes of Ruby.

Ruby began to frantically ask questions. "What's wrong? Did someone hurt you?! Was it that lady from the tower? Did something happen at the dance?"

Pyrrha sniffled a few times before she managed to squeak out a word. "...Jaune..."

"What?"

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha practically screamed as she wiped her face with her right hand.

Ruby jumped back a bit and scratched her head in confusion. "Jaune? Jaune did this to you?"

"...Jaune and Yang..." Were the only other words she was able to choke out before she broke down into tears once again.

"Jaune and... Yang?" Ruby asked quizzically, watching Pyrrha slowly nod her head a few times as she pulled her knees close to her face, sobbing into her dress.

Ruby said nothing else as she sat down next to Pyrrha and embraced her in a hug. "It's okay, Pyrrha. I'm here if you need me." She continued to squeeze the gladiator tightly, ignoring the protests from her friend and the shouts coming from behind her.

"Pyrrha!" Nora shouted as she and Ren finally caught up to her. "Pyrrha are you- ...Ruby?"

"Nora! Ren!" Ruby hopped up to her feet and began frantically explaining things to them. "I found Pyrrha like this and said that Jaune and Yang hurt her! I just don't know why they would hurt Pyrrha... Jaune's so nice... and Yang..."

Nora and Ren shared a glance before Nora gave Ren a small nod, knowing that it would be best for him to explain the situation in a more calm manner than the hyperactive viking knew she could provide. Ren slowly approached his crying teammate and sat down next to her, not moving an inch after he did. "Ruby, Jaune and Yang hurt Pyrrha in a different way. You see... Pyrrha..." He paused, not knowing how to word is explanation. After all, it was something that he never foresaw himself needing to do.

"I liked Jaune." Pyrrha managed to croak out between her sobs. "And... and he doesn't like me. He likes... your sister, more."

Ruby's gaze went to the floor, her eyes drooping as she put the pieces together. "Oh..." She couldn't think of much else to say as she slumped to the ground next to the gladiator and embraced her in a hug once again. Pyrrha refused it at first, but when she felt Nora squeeze the three of them together she gave in and embraced them both. Ren simply watched on, content with staying out of Nora's reach so he would not be pulled into the hug. It's not that he didn't want to comfort his friend, he would rather do it in his own way rather than the Nora way.

Eventually, Nora managed to convince Pyrrha to head inside of their dorm, while Ruby and Ren simply sat in the hallway in silence, waiting for their respective teammates to arrive.

Jaune continued walking down the hall in a haze. All he was seeing was pink, although he did catch a glimpse of Yang hanging off of his shoulder occasionally. Tonight could not have gone any more perfect for them.

Weiss and Blake meanwhile, were trying to avoid looking at the couple as they hung off of each other, occasionally cooing at one another. It was no surprise to see Jaune acting like a drunken moron hopped up on teen romance, but seeing Yang like this was far too weird. However, Yang and Jaune were the first that stopped dead in their tracks when they spotted Ren and Ruby both standing outside of JNPR's dorm, waiting for all of them. Weiss and Blake also stopped when they saw the look of despair on their team leaders face.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Jaune asked as he waved, not noticing the very slim look of... anger? On Ren's face.

Both Ruby and Ren shared a glance before Ren stepped forward. "Jaune. I hate to be the one to inform you of this, but I think it would be best if you stayed somewhere else for the night."

Jaune blinked a few times in confusion. "What?"

"Pyrrha is in no condition to see you right now. And it would be best for everyone if-"

Jaune didn't let him finish as he pushed himself off of Yang. "Pyrrha? What happened to her?! Is she okay?!"

Ren let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. "No, Jaune. She isn't okay." He paused for a moment before opening his eyes again, the anger and disappointment could be seen swirling in them. "You hurt her tonight."

"Wh-what? Me?! What did I do?"

"You know exactly what you did, Jaune." Ren paused for a moment and sighed. "Or rather, what you didn't do. I warned you this would happen, yet it seems as though you didn't heed my advice. Good night." Ren opened the door and stepped inside, a few sniffles escaped through the crack as the door was shut behind him. Everyone stood in the hallway in complete, awkward silence for quite some time. After all, nobody had seen or heard Ren act like that before. But after a few moments had passed, Jaune finally managed to think of something to say.

"I uh... I guess I'll just go find somewhere else to stay for the night." He said glumly as he began to slowly trudge off. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, he had slept outside so many times before and this would be no different. But the bigger issue is what had he done to Pyrrha that hurt her enough to not even want to see him anymore?

"Uh... wait!" Ruby shouted as she grabbed the blondes shoulder. "You can stay with us for the night!" She looked back at her teammates to see them looking rather conflicted on her proposition. "Right, guys?"

Yang began rubbing her left arm nervously as she stared at her sister. "I mean... I'm cool with it, but..." She trailed off as she glanced over to Weiss and Blake. Blake probably wouldn't have a huge problem with it, but Weiss on the other hand? There was absolutely no way that she would ever let Jaune stay in the same room as her for an entire night. And there were multiple reasons as to why.

Blake coughed into her hand awkwardly before stepping forward. "I mean... I guess I would be okay with it, it's only for a night. We've all got missions to go on tomorrow anyway, so we won't be in the room for long."

Everyone turned to look at Weiss, the heiress becoming uncomfortable under the pressure. Her first thought was no, not in a million years. But that was what the old Weiss would have SAID, not thought. After the great time she had, all thanks to the teen she had grown to hate, she felt that now would be the best time to start trying to mend their friendship. "Very well." She stated, folding her arms tightly across her chest as she watched the boys eyes light up. "But there will be STRICT rules in place, and if you break a single one-"

"I won't, I promise. Thanks, Weiss." Jaune smiled brightly at the offer, which had caught him by surprise. And Weiss nodded in response before all five of them went inside the dorm.

* * *

The awkward in team RWBY's room was so potent that you could feel it in the air. It didn't help that there was a giant dragon curled up in the corner of the room, silently staring at the wall in an attempt to figure out what he had done wrong. Team RWBY seemed to be in a state of contemplation over that as well, with Ruby and Yang being the ones who were thinking their hardest. As Jaune continued to stare at the wall, he ran through the night trying to think of what he had possibly done to hurt her. It was hard, given the fact that he never actually saw Pyrrha himself during the entire dance. Then he started to think back on what Ren had said. It wasn't what he did, but what he didn't do. What didn't he do that could cause Pyrrha to have a breakdown like that? What...

"Oh my god." Jaune mumbled as his head raised into the air, the sudden realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. "I didn't tell her."

Everyone else in the room shared a confused glance before their eyes settled back on the dragon that was still curled up in the corner of their room. "You didn't tell who what, Jaune?" Ruby asked as she hopped off her bunk and approached Jaune. The dragons eyes glazed over for a moment as his body curled into itself even harder.

"I... I didn't tell her how I felt about her." He stated as his head lowered itself and curled up with the rest of his body.

Yang was the first one to pick up on that, practically leaping off the bed as she landed next to her sister. "What do you mean you didn't tell her about how you felt?" She questioned, a low growl barely being concealed in her question. Had Jaune been cheating on her with Pyrrha behind both of their backs? The thought was certainly not modest as it shoved its way into the blonde brawlers head and began making a fuss.

"Pyrrha... I..." Jaune began. "I never told her that I didn't like her the way she likes... er... liked, me. I mean, I always knew but-"

"Hold up." Yang raised her hand in front of her. "You KNEW that she was crushing on you hardcore?" Jaune nodded in response, which didn't improve Yang's mood at all. "So, you knew, and you just pretended like you didn't know?" She paused for a moment, waiting for him to nod in response yet again. But when he didn't, she felt her hands curl into fists. "So you just... lead her on like that? WHY?!"

"I didn't do it for fun! I was afraid of what would happen if I told her I didn't like her back!"

Yang folded her arms. "What were you afraid she was gonna do? Impale you with her javelin?"

"I was afraid that she wouldn't want to be my friend anymore! And being on a team with a person who hates you isn't exactly good for anyone!" Jaune snapped back.

"I can understand that." Ruby stated as she inserted herself into the conversation. "I mean, look at me and Weiss. We didn't like each other at all when we first met. If it was still like that-"

"Stay out of this, Ruby!" Yang shouted as she pushed her sister back, startling Blake and Weiss along with Ruby. Yang's eyes began to glow a dangerous shade of red as she turned her attention back to Jaune. "So you broke a girls heart just so she wouldn't be mad at you when you said you weren't interested? You do realize you royally screwed up, right? You'll be lucky if she even wants to see you again after this, Jaune!"

"I KNOW!" Jaune shouted. "I know... I screwed up, just like you said. I was an ass, but I'll find a way to fix this. I'll make it up to her, I'll-"

"She might not even want you to make it up to her! You can't just FIX something like this like it's a broken pipe, Jaune!" Yang shouted as she placed a hand on her head. "How could you be so STUPID?!"

"Look, I was GOING to say something, but you sorta took priority on my list and I forgot, okay?!"

"Oh great!" Yang threw her arms up into the air. "Now we're going back to the blame game again! It's all Yang's fault for stealing my heart, Pyrrha! Blame her!"

Jaune growled, the guttural noise sounding less human and more animalistic, causing Ruby, Weiss and Blake to back up a little. "No, Yang. I'm saying you're more important than my friendship with Pyrrha!"

"I would be more flattered if you weren't breaking your partners heart."

Jaune let out a sigh in frustration. "Look, I admit that I'm wrong. And that I shouldn't have done what I did, but it's more important that I admit that to Pyrrha and not you guys. And that's not happening until tomorrow, so why don't we just get some sleep?"

Yang grit her teeth as she stomped over to the dragon. "Uh, no. This conversation isn't done yet."

"Goodnight, Yang." Jaune stated bluntly as he pulled his wings over his face.

"We aren't done yet, Jaune!" She shouted as she attempted to pull his wing away from his face to no effect. "Is this how it's gonna be with us? You hide things from me and then be a big baby about them when it blows up in your face?! Because I won't deal with that, Jaune!"

"No. I'll make sure it's not like that, and that starts with me fixing this mess I dug myself into." Jaune stated.

Yang tried to pry his wing away from his face a few more times before finally giving up and storming off to her bunk. The rest of team RWBY also decided to go to bed, knowing that Jaune wasn't in the mood to talk any longer. That, and they all had a big day ahead of them with their first mission.

Jaune let out a yawn as he left RWBY's dorm and opened the door to his. Pyrrha had left and headed towards the briefing hall early so Jaune could get into the room and pack his things in the event that they needed to go somewhere today instead of later like they had initially planned. Ren wanted to go to a little village on the outskirts of Vale called Mulan, which was apparently where him and Nora grew up. Jaune had no problem with it, as it would give him the alone time he needed with Pyrrha to make amends for what he did.

* * *

The morning had been completely uneventful, thank god. He wasn't sure if he could take anything else strange happening on his way to the briefing with Ren and Nora. Once they had gotten into the hall, Jaune looked over at his friend and partner who was doing her best to look as calm as she possibly could. Her composure was visibly shaken when she locked eyes with Jaune, her head quickly turning in the other direction as soon as they did. As everyone filed into their spots, Headmaster Ozpin began his speech. Jaune mostly ignored it, instead focusing on his redhead partner who was doing her best to avoid his gaze.

After the speech was over, the four of them broke off from the rest of the crowd and made their way to one of the mission selecting terminals. As Jaune scrolled through the list, he found the entry that he was looking for. It was a simple mission to shadow the sheriff of a nearby town named Mulan, exactly what Ren had described that morning. Jaune smirked as he pressed his finger against the mission box and punched in their team name. Only for the screen to flash red and give him an error.

Jaune and his friends all stared at the screen, dumbfounded as to what had just happened. "W-wait that's not right! I selected the one that said Mulan village!" He returned to jamming his finger on the touch screen, though the mission log refused to change for him. The word Error continued to flash on screen, further cementing the futility of his actions. "Grr... Why isn't it working!"

"Is there a problem, Mr. Arc?"

Everyone was startled by the voice of Headmaster Ozpin, who approached them with a look of concern on his face. Jaune glanced back at his team before turning his gaze back at their headmaster. "Uh, yes sir. I'm trying to select this mission, but it keeps giving me an error."

"I see..." Ozpin started as he pulled a scroll out of his pocket and expanded the device, a list of all the teams scrolling onto his screen. He continued to go through the list until he hit their name and with the press of a finger, he pulled up the information that they desired. "According to my information, your team has already been selected for a mission."

"B-but..." Jaune's eyes went back to his team to see the disappointed on their faces. "I didn't select anything!"

"This mission was a special request, and we found that your team was the most suited for handling it." Ozpin stated as he put his scroll away. The headmaster strolled over to Jaune and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We do not always get a choice in what missions we take, Mr. Arc. I'm sorry that I cannot accommodate your friends and their desire to visit the village of their birth. Stay safe."

The four of them watched as the headmaster walked away in silence. Jaune pulled out his scroll and began to pull up the mission information. "Search and Destroy..." He began to read aloud to the rest of his team. "We're going to a small town on the outskirts of Vale's Grimmlands. Apparently they've been having a lot of trouble."

"Well duh!" Nora chimed in. "If you set up a town right next to where the Grimm live, of COURSE you're gonna have a ton of trouble!"

"Very well then..." Pyrrha said, startling everyone. "When do we leave?"

Jaune stared at Pyrrha for a moment before looking down at his scroll. "Uh lets see... today. Oh well that's not as bad..." Jaune glanced back down at the scroll. "TODAY?!" They weren't ready to go on a mission today! Okay, in actuality he knew they were. They packed for it after all, but he figured the downtime before the mission would have given him an opportunity to try and fix his relationship with Pyrrha BEFORE they went on the mission. Of course his luck had to turn sour at the last minute.

"Oh... I see..." Pyrrha mumbled as she looked at the bag she had set down next to her. "I suppose it's a good thing we packed, then..."

Jaune nodded in response as he glanced down at the scroll once again. He noticed something interesting. According to the information on his screen, the huntsman that they were shadowing was already at Beacon, and he had arrived specifically for that mission. According to what he read online, most of the time the academies send you to the huntsman or at least have a location where the budding team and huntsman meet up. But this one specifically came to them? Why? Either way, they would find out soon enough, he supposed.

As the four of them stepped outside, they noticed team RWBY waiting in front of a bullhead, the four of them seemingly stunned by something. When the got closer, they found the reason as to why. Professor Oobleck was talking to a rather tall man in front of the four of them, the man in question had pale white skin, and a rather slim figure that was covered by a strange type of leathery looking armor, long pale green hair pulled into a braided ponytail and finally piercing emerald eyes. The two adults seemed rather engaged in their conversation until team JNPR approached.

"Uh... Hey guys, what mission did you get?" Jaune asked, attempting to snap team RWBY out of their comatose state.

When the four members of team RWBY turned around, they certainly looked like they had seen a ghost. Jaune could only wager a guess that it had something to do with Professor Oobleck.

Ruby began stuttering their mission. "We're uh... we're heading over to-"

"We are on an expedition to Mountain Glenn! A failed expansion of Vale that has been seen harboring unsavory Grimm activity within the recent weeks, and it is our job to eliminate this threat!" Everyone present jumped when Professor Oobleck suddenly burst into the conversation. "As a result, time is of the utmost importance! So ladies, I advise you keep this chitchat short so we may proceed with said mission, as we are already four minutes late for our departure!" As Oobleck turned and began his dash to the bullhead, he briefly stopped to face the other man from earlier. "It was a pleasure seeing you again, Reus. Perhaps we can chat at a later date if you are still around after our missions."

Jaune's eyes widened a bit as he watched the two men exchange farewells before the green haired one caught sight of them and stepped over to their group. "R-REUS?!" Jaune shouted as he took in the visage of his village elder.

The man gave a small chuckle at Jaune's reaction as he approached. "Greetings, youngling. I'm quite surprised you didn't recognize me sooner."

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the village back in Vytal?"

"I am here for many important affairs, the first and foremost being you, child. I will be the one to accompany you and your friends on your mission."

Yang was the first to pick out the specifics of who this guy was. "Reus? Isn't this the guy who always kept an eye on you, Jaune?"

Reus's eyes glanced over to Yang, his gaze felt as if it was piercing through her. "So I see Jaune has been rather talkative about his hometown."

"Well he... uh-"

Nora suddenly burst into the conversation when she realized something important. "Wait a second..." She demanded as she held a hand up to her chin. "...he's from your hometown..." she mumbled as she got closer and closer to the question she wanted to ask. Then, it finally donned on her. "DOES THAT MEAN HE'S A DRAGON TOO?!"

Everyone froze up at Nora's outburst, with Ren and Yang being the first to clap two separate hands over her mouth. Jaune meanwhile, went white as a ghost as his elder turned to him, his eyes morphing into a sharp glare.

"You... TOLD THEM EVERYTHING?!"

Jaune flinched, Reus rarely actually raised his voice unless the situation called for it. Not only that, but the elder's teeth were looking particularly sharp as he grit them. And on top of that, his iris's had changed to two small slits, which was the most intimidating factor of them all.

It was this outburst that made Jaune stutter. "I- I uh I can explain it's... it's uh..."

Yang watched as the older dragon bore down on his ex-pupil, and she felt a surge of guilt. Despite all her better judgements, she lifted a hand off of Nora's mouth and took a step to Jaune's side. "It's my fault. I found out about it first, on accident." She nearly flinched under the glare that Reus directed at her, but she held strong. However, before anything else could be said, everyone could hear Oobleck call out from behind them.

"Five minutes, ladies!"

Reus let out a low growl as his teeth were threatening to break from how hard he was gritting them. Turning away from the group for a brief moment, he shouted at Oobleck. "BARTHOLOMEW, YOUR MISSION IS BEING DELAYED. THESE TWO GROUPS OF CHILDREN HAVE JUST BROUGHT UP AN URGENT ISSUE."

"What?!" Oobleck cried out from the bullhead as he began to race back to the group.

"WHAT?! Our mission can't be delayed, it's important!" Ruby shouted as she ran in front of the elder dragon. Reus crouched down and glowered at Ruby, his gaze making her fall completely silent. There was something about him that terrified her more than anything had ever before, so much so that it almost drove her to tears.

"Why. Why do they know, Jaune?" Reus turned to Jaune after he asked the question, earning a sigh of relief from Ruby.

"Because I told them." Everyone was shocked when they saw that Jaune's fear had almost completely vanished, a steely look of bravery was branded on his face as he stared down his elder.

"WHY?"

"Because these people are the closest friends I've ever had, Reus. They've done things for me that made me decide that they had a right to know."

"Do you have ANY IDEA what kind of repercussions you will face for this? It is one thing to tell your lover, or someone whom you owe your life to, but SEVEN PEOPLE?! AND CHILDREN NO LESS?!"

"I don't care about the repercussions, I-"

"THE REPERCUSSIONS COULD GET ALL OF YOU-" Reus paused mid-shout, a look of realization flashing on his face before his hands went to his temples, rubbing them as he shut his eyes. "The Oracles... This must be their doing..." He whispered to himself before opening his eyes again, staring at the children before him. He let out a heavy sigh before turning back to team RBWY. "I apologize for my brief outburst. I will be requiring the presence of your team after both parties have finished their respective missions. Is this understood?"

"I have no idea what is going on, but does this mean you are changing your mind about our mission being delayed?" Oobleck asked as he joined the group.

Reus turned to him and gave him the smallest smile. "That is correct. As I said, I will only require their presence after their mission."

"Excellent! Then that means you will be staying at Beacon, yes?" Oobleck lit up as the elder dragon nodded his head in response. "Spectacular! We shall go out with Peter and Glynda upon our return! I look forward to catching up with you, old friend!"

Reus let out a laugh in response. "Yes, it will be good to see them again as well." He turned to team RWBY and offered them a bow. "Apologies if I scared you at all, Ms. Rose. But you will see why I did so when we all return." Reus then turned away from them and began walking towards the bullhead landing pad that was situated next to team RWBY's, his hand reaching out for Jaune's collar as he passed by the boy. As he dragged Jaune away from his team, the other members of team JNPR quickly said their goodbyes to team RWBY before separating.

"While we are on this mission, you and I have much to discuss, youngling. MUCH to discuss indeed." Reus growled as the rest of Jaune's team ran to catch up with them.

Jaune stared at Pyrrha as she and the others began to catch up with the pair, a sense of dread coming over him. "We're not the only ones, Reus..." He mumbled to himself as the two of them reached the bullhead.


	31. Mission Start

As the bullhead soared through the sky towards its destination, everyone stood within the flying contraption with a sense of unease. And it wasn't the fact that they had another dragon with them. It mostly came from Jaune and Pyrrha, who were stationed right next to each other while Reus had chosen to stand between Nora and Ren.

Nora seemed to be the only person who didn't mind the awkward atmosphere, as she continued to blab on about the teams initiation to their huntsman. "And then he shouted "Nora, nail it!" and I rushed over to Pyrrha and launched myself up into the air with her shield!"

"I see." Reus glanced over to Jaune, the young dragon doing his best not to meet his elders gaze. "And what happened next?"

"Ooh, the best part! I used my hammer and I slammed it down right on the bugs head! The stinger just slid right into its skull and made it stumble right off the cliff! Then we all collapsed on the ground because we were exhausted. Well, everyone else was exhausted. I just sat down because Ren did. Then we all watched team RWBY kill a giant Nevermore!"

"All of you taking down such massive grimm at your age... That's quite remarkable." Reus glanced over to Jaune's redheaded partner, the gladiator's eyes occasionally drifted over to the blonde before they quickly snapped back to attention. "And what happened after that?"

"Oh well, we climbed up the cliff and then we got an airlift back to Beacon! Then, we all got put on a team together with Jaune as the leader!"

Reus's eyes widened as the mention of Jaune being leader. "Oh? Leader, you say?" His green eyes drilled into the aforementioned blonde's as he smiled. "I'm glad to see I was right about you, Jaune. It seems that you really were destined for greatness."

"Oh yeah, he's been the best leader ever! Don't let team RWBY tell you any different, Jaune's numero uno!" Nora boasted proudly as she gave Jaune a thumbs up.

"Hmm." Reus hummed as he held a hand to his chin. "Tell me about this team RWBY. Are you all friends?"

"Oh, TOTALLY! I love hanging out with Ruby and Ya-" Nora paused for a moment, not wanting to utter the name of "She who must not be named" in front of Pyrrha. "Uh, Weiss can be mean, but she's only mean cos she wants whats best for her friends! And Blake... she doesn't talk a whole lot. All I really know about her is that she has kitty ears!"

"NORA!" Jaune shouted. "We're supposed to keep that a secret!" The resulting half-glare that Jaune got from his elder told him that he was in no position to be saying such a thing to his teammate.

"Pffff! He's not gonna tell anyone! You guys are masters at keeping secrets!" Nora beamed as she nudged the elder dragon next to her. "Cos you guys are dragons!"

Reus simply stared at his pupil, cocking an eyebrow as the blonde dragon turned his head away in embarrassment. "The blonde. What is your relationship with her, Jaune?"

"Uuuh... I... Um..." Jaune's eyes darted to Pyrrha, who turned away from the group, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's... complicated?"

Reus took note of Pyrrha's reaction, and chose not to pry further out of respect for the gladiator. Clearly there was something more between the two of them that bothered the redhead. But that was for them to sort out, not him. He was the last person that should be giving relationship advice.

"Alright, this is your stop."

Everyone glanced towards the cockpit, the pilot not turning as he spoke. The groups gaze was directed towards the left side of the bullhead, the door sliding open as the vehicle hovered just low enough for them to safely jump off and land on the ground. "I'll pick you all up the day after tomorrow, same time, same place. Provided you're all still alive."

"Very well then..." Reus began. "Shall we begin?" He held a hand out towards the open door before he released his grip from the metal bar he was holding. The elder dragon stepped forward and briefly turned back to the group before hopping out of the bullhead. Everyone else shared a glance before Nora charged forward and leapt out of the vehicle, the rest of the team following close behind her.

After the group of five set foot on the ground, their bullhead quickly pulled out of the town and began its long trip back to Vale. Everyone took in the surrounding buildings and gasped in horror as the first thing they noticed was the town in which they were dropped off in was almost completely deserted and trashed. Many of the buildings were almost completely hollowed out, charred or just decrepit. It was a veritable ghost town. Team JNPR found themselves mostly speechless, their eyes unable to pry themselves away from the remnants of whatever carnage had happened.

"Wh-what the..." Jaune stuttered as he gazed at what remained of the place they were meant to protect. "What happened here?"

Reus stepped forward and scanned the surrounding area. "Weapons at the ready." He commanded as he picked out one particularly important detail about the wreckage of the town. There were buildings that were still smoldering, whether it was just smoke or fire did not matter. It was quite clear that this destruction was recent, and judging by the status of the towns defensive walls from the direction they came, the Grimm most likely breached another sector. "The Grimm happened. And it seems as though they had purpose. This town has been thoroughly cleaned out of any survivors."

"A... purpose?" Pyrrha questioned as she gazed down a charred alley. "But, the Grimm are mindless, aren't they? Why would they need to clear out a city so quickly and efficiently?"

"I do not know, but look at the structures around us. See how they have minimal damage?" Reus gestured to a nearby house, the building only having a few smashed windows and a door that had been shattered into splinters. "Grimm are not this careful under normal circumstances. They care little for what they have to go through to kill humans. So then, why are these structures so well preserved?"

"I... I'm not sure."

Reus nodded. "And that is why we must proceed with caution. Jaune, Pyrrha. To the front. Nora, stay in the middle, Ren will be with me in the back."

The group looked at their huntsman with surprise and confusion. The elder dragon blinked a few times before he realized what he was doing. "Apologies, this is your team, Jaune. I should not be ordering you all around like this unless the situation calls for it. Proceed."

"N-no, it's okay, Reus. That was... actually how I was going to order us." Jaune lowered his head as he gazed into the ground below him. "Was it really that obvious of a strategy?"

"Not obvious, just simple. Ranged and supportive hunters like dust mages tend to stay in the back while the heavy weapon wielders fill the remaining slots in the middle and front." Reus explained. "You and Pyrrha have shields, meaning that you are the first line of defense against whatever attacks from the front."

Jaune nodded before deciding that it would be best for them all to move on and scout out the surrounding area. As they continued to push deeper into the ghost town, they took note of the damage done to the buildings. It wasn't the damage itself that they took interest in, but what had possibly caused the damage. Many of the walls of the buildings had many small markings that cut deep into the concrete and wooden frames of them, and while most would assume that it was perhaps an alpha beowolf or a ursa major, experienced or knowledged hunters would tell right away what was wrong with those assumptions. The marks in these buildings were single, small bite-looking marks that almost always had an accompanying mark directly parallel to them in large numbers. There was no way that a beowulf or ursa could cause this kind of damage, and goliaths were out given the fact that they impaled things with larger holes as a result.

So then what had caused this kind of damage in so little time?

The group then came to what looked like an abandoned gas station, which was still standing surprisingly. As the five entered the building, the first thing they noticed was the amount of food and supplies that had gone completely untouched despite the fact that the town had clearly been attacked.

"One would think that the looters would have cleaned this place out..." Ren stated as the team began sifting through the store in an attempt to find any food that wasn't spoiled.

"One would think that." Reus repeated as he glanced around. "But, given the state of the town, I would say that the looters didn't have a chance." He glanced down at a pile of rubble that lead to one of the gas stations walls, a giant hole being present that showed the inside of the employee backroom. "Perhaps there were no people left to attempt to loot at all." Reus stepped away from the wall and turned towards the windows, the light from the sun bathing the surrounding landscape in a brilliant orange color. "It's getting late." He stated as he turned to his pupil.

Jaune stared at the elder dragon for quite some time before shrugging his shoulders. Reus felt his right eye twitch a little as he pondered how Jaune had become the leader of this team with how much of a ditz he could be. The boy in green, Ren, walked up to his leader and offered him some advice before Reus could open his mouth. "Perhaps maybe we should set up camp here for the night, Jaune?"

"Oh, yeah. That's a good idea Ren. There's probably enough salvageable food around here, and the position is pretty defensible if there aren't any holes in the break room." Jaune poked his head inside of the break room to confirm that there were no holes. As he glanced around the room, his mind drifted into another important situation that could come from such a thing. "Although, that means the Grimm have to funnel in from one location if they attack, which would also be our only exit." He placed his hands on his hips as he observed his team.

"Alright, two of us will scout the surrounding area for Grimm. If there aren't that many, I think it'll be safe to camp here for the night. If there are a lot, then we should probably grab whatever spare food we can and find a more manageable building to stay in. Best not to waste our supplies if we don't have to." Jaune finished as he glanced out the front of the building.

"I will scout the surrounding area." Pyrrha declared as she slipped out of the building before Jaune could say anything on the subject.

"Ooh! I'll go with her!" Nora boasted as she hopped up and began to run after her teammate. Though, for some reason, she felt herself stopping for a moment to look at Jaune.

"Jaune." Reus placed a hand on the boys shoulder. "Go with your partner. You need to talk with her, yes?" He watched as Jaune simply nodded silently in response. "Then do it now. For you may never get the chance to do so after this night." He noticed the look of horror creep across his pupils face. "Such is the risk that comes with this job."

Jaune gulped before he nodded once again. "Sorry, Nora. Can you stay here with Ren?" He asked as he walked up to the electric ginger.

Nora smiled in response, flashing her teeth as she did. "Of course! Go get her, leader!"

The three of them watched as Jaune ran after his partner before they went back to securing the inside of the building. Reus watched as Nora and Ren began sifting through the various products that remained on the shelves.

"So, tell me of your leaders troubles." The two of them stopped and looked at the elder dragon in confusion. "It is rather obvious that something happened between Jaune and Pyrrha. What was it?"

"Um... Well..." Nora began to trail off, not wanting to discuss her teammates love trouble with someone that was still a total stranger, despite his previous connection with Jaune.

"Pyrrha was rather fond of Jaune. He didn't reciprocate the feelings, but didn't tell her that information, instead choosing to be passive in the hopes that she would move on from him. Then he fell in love with someone else, Yang from team RWBY." Ren began to rattle off an explanation despite Nora's protests.

"The blonde from team RWBY?" Reus pondered over Jaune's choice for a brief moment. "Very interesting choice. Is he aware of her?"

"He is. The two of them shared a kiss at the dance, which Pyrrha witnessed. Then, she broke down. I must admit, she has taken it rather well all things considered."

"That... isn't what I meant when I asked if he was aware of Yang." Reus said as his eyes narrowed.

Ren cocked an eyebrow ever so slightly as he stared at the elder dragon in front of him. "Then what did you mean?"

"...That is not a discussion for here and now, if it is not already obvious." Reus deflected as he glanced towards the front door. "I will accompany the two of them on their patrol. If you need anything... just, scream. My hearing is very good."

"OKAY!" Nora shouted at the top of her lungs as she dove into a pile of potato chip bags, causing the elder dragon to snicker at the gingers antics.

* * *

Pyrrha stumbled around the wreckage of what looked like a car merchant, the various cars being mostly undamaged aside from a few shattered windows. As she continued walking through the area, she noticed a particularly sad looking car that had been trashed worse than all the others. All the windows had been shattered, the upholstery was shredded and... bloody, and the car had various dents that all seemed to lead up to the hood being ripped off and thrown away. She held back her nerves as she approached the wreckage, carefully peering into the window to see what the rest of the inside looked like. She let out a sigh in relief when she saw that there was no body to accompany the blood.

"Pyrrha."

Pyrrha let out a yelp and jumped a bit as her name was called, her partner suddenly appearing from behind the wreckage of the vehicle. "Oh. Hello, Jaune. Are you here to check up on me? I can assure you that I don't need-"

"We need to talk." He stated as he leaned up against the car. He watched as Pyrrha squirmed under his gaze, the gladiator choosing to look away from him as she walked along. Jaune pushed himself off of the car and began to walk alongside his partner. "Pyrrha, come on."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Jaune. Everything is... fine."

Jaune's eyes narrowed as he stepped in front of her. "Pyrrha." He forced her gaze to meet his. "I'm sorry."

"Jaune..." Pyrrha bit her lip as she broke away from her partners gaze, her eyes drifting to the nearby foliage. "There's nothing to be sorry about."

"I knew, Pyrrha."

That got her attention. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she turned her head back to the blonde. "Kn-knew about what, Jaune?"

He let out a sigh. "I knew how you felt about me. That you had a crush on me."

"You... knew..."

He nodded. "I first picked up on it a few days after school officially started. I thought it was a fluke at first, but when you kept pressing..."

"You knew the whole time..." She repeated as she looked down at her own hands. "And you didn't say anything?"

"I was afraid of what you might-" Jaune flinched as his partners hand flung itself across his face, the reverb from the slap was loud enough to startle a few of the nearby birds, causing them to fly away in a hurry. Jaune stared back at Pyrrha, his eyes widened in shock.

"I'm... I'm sorry." She apologized as she reeled back. Her shock soon wore off as she remembered why she slapped him in the first place and glared at the blonde. "Wait... No, I'm not sorry! You deserved it!"

"Yeah..." He rubbed his cheek, the pain barely registered thanks to his aura. But the implication of the action alone did more damage than the slap itself. "I deserved it." There was silence for a long time as the two stared at each other. Jaune let out a heavy sigh as he pushed himself off of the car. "Listen, Pyrrha... I... I know I hurt you. Really badly. And I know me saying I'm sorry doesn't fix that, but... I want to at least try and make up for what I did. I don't want our friendship to end like this."

The gladiator said nothing as she began rubbing at her arm. Her gaze lowered to the ground for a brief moment before it returned to meeting his. "Jaune... You can't just make it up to me. It's not that simple. I... I want to be more than a friend to you... but... I can't be. And I don't know if I can still be your friend knowing that, that's all I'll ever be. I'm afraid I won't be able to move on."

"You will move on. One way or another."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha let out a shout in surprise as Reus suddenly appeared between the two of them. "Did I startle you?" He questioned jokingly as he turned to the redhead. His smile soon faded, his expression turning serious as he looked deep into Pyrrha's eyes. "Listen to me, Ms. Nikos. I will sound rather blunt when I say this, but there is no trying when it comes to these things. You either care enough about Jaune to let him go and continue your friendship, or you care enough about him to forget about him."

Pyrrha's face went cross-eyed for a moment as she tried to comprehend his statement. Reus sighed to himself. "I know that may not make much sense in the way I said it, so let me try to simplify it to something less... riddle-like. You either care about him enough to still want to be his friend, or you care enough about him that you cannot stand seeing him in the arms of someone else, and can no longer be around him as a result."

"Reus..." Jaune walked up to his elder and peered around the man. "You sound like you know a lot about this kinda thing. Did this scenario...?"

"Happen to me before? Yes." Reus finished, causing the two teenagers to recoil in momentary shock. "I was once in love with someone. He did not reciprocate those feelings, for he was unable to despite his attempts. We still vowed to be friends, yet it has been years since we last spoke to one another. I do not wish for the same thing to befall the two of you."

There was silence for what seemed like an eternity before Pyrrha spoke up. "I..." She hesitated for a moment, but found the strength to continue. "I don't know if now is the best time for me to make such a decision... It's... a lot to think about." She let out a heavy sigh before she smiled. "But... despite what you say, Professor Reus..." She noticed the questioning look that the elder dragon gave her when she called him professor and chuckled to herself. "I will try to consider everything that has happened and make a choice based on that. It may take time, however."

Both Jaune and Reus smiled, Reus nodding as he did. "I understand, Ms. Nikos. I still hope that you will continue to be Jaune's friend though, you two seem to be in near perfect synchronization with each other." Reus noticed the slight shade of pink that adorned the gladiators cheeks before turning to see that Jaune was also sporting a similar shade. The elder dragon laughed, something which the two of them found infectious as they joined in.

* * *

As if to respond to their laughter, a strange noise began to echo around the area. The sounds reverberating off of the broken down vehicles surrounding the three caused severe discomfort, forcing them to cover their ears as the sound continued to assault them. It was a familiar yet unsettling sound, like someone running a wooden stick over a grate made not of metal... something organic. It wasn't long before a second sound rang out over the first. The sound of insectoid wings furiously beating against the wind filled the air, the sound becoming louder and louder with every passing second.

Jaune glanced into the air and noticed a dark cloud slowly forming in the sky above. "Hey... When did it get cloudy out?" Jaune looked closer at the clouds, squinting his eyes when he caught sight of the cloud moving.

Moving directly towards them!

"Impossible..." Reus muttered as the cloud began to speed towards their group. "GET DOWN!" He shouted as he lunged forward, pushing the two teenagers down onto the ground as the cloud swooped in on them. The three of them felt shivers run up their collective spines as the mass of insects passed over them, the air current created from their sheer numbers being the cause. As soon as the cloud passed by, it began to pick up altitude as it climbed back into the sky.

Jaune and Pyrrha attempted to get up, only to find themselves being held down by Reus. "Stay down. If it thinks we're dead it may-"

Reus was interrupted by the sound of the car in front of them being crushed. Glass and metal sprayed out from the vehicle as something big landed on it with enough force to completely flatten it. The elder dragon leapt to his feet with surprising speed, pulling his two students with him. As Jaune and Pyrrha rose to their feet, they finally caught sight of the creature that had attacked them. It was a grimm that differed from the normal mammalian, avian and reptilian grimm that they had seen before.

This one was an insectoid, a grasshopper to be exact. The creature's lifeless red orbs gazed down on the group, its black, shadowy form somehow glistening in the afternoon sun. Its front legs were long and thin, ending in two small but rather sharp looking white hooks. It beat its wings for a moment as it stared down at the three, red veins could be seen bulging within it's transparent white wings. The creature lifted itself up into the air with its two smaller front legs, the action looking as if it were performing a hand stand. It's two grotesque back legs flared up, the bulkier part being covered in white boney plates while the thinner parts seemed to be covered in layered bones that looked similar to an old fashioned washboard.

The Grimm began to rub the thin parts of its legs together, recreating the sound that the group had heard before the cloud of insects appeared. The sound of insect wings beating once again muffled the noise from the giant Grimm standing before them. The trio took their eyes off of the insect grimm briefly, only to take in the horrifying sight of the cloud of insects performing a U-turn back in their direction.

"Get to shelter, NOW!" Reus shouted, the three of them taking off into a run as soon as the words finished leaving his mouth. They ran through the maze of cars, heading towards a smaller convenience store across from the car dealership. Jaune watched as the cloud of insects swooped down at Pyrrha, colliding with her before he even had a chance to shout out a warning.

The cloud engulfed her for only a brief moment before it was slashed apart by her javelin. The cloud briefly dispersed before it reformed a short distance away, before it began climbing higher for another divebomb. Jaune watched in horror as Pyrrha collapsed onto the ground, hundreds of small yet bloody bites covering her upper body.

Jaune never even heard himself call out for her, but the sound must have happened as Reus had turned and scooped his partner up into his arms. The blonde dragon grit his teeth as he turned to face the cloud of death that was swooping down once again. Fire engulfed his vision for a moment before he felt his body unfurl around him. The dragon stood in his power form, facing down the swarm of insects without hesitation. Jaune breathed deep, a current of flames traveling up his throat as he began to exhale.

Reus gazed in horror as he saw an orange light erupt from Jaune's open mouth. "NO! DON'T!" His warning went ignored however, as a stream of fire erupted from the dragons maw. The flames rushed into the heart of the cloud, causing an explosive storm of fire and insects as the cloud burst. Hundreds of insects were lit ablaze and began to frantically fly in random directions, the attack proving successful in countering the giant insectoid grimms method of death dealing.

Jaune grinned as he watched the insects flail around in the air. But his grin faltered when they began to straighten themselves out and fly correctly. His grin completely vanished when he realized what was about to happen as the insects each individually dive-bombed him, all while still coated in his flames.

Their small carcasses slammed into his skin and exploded in a shower of fire and bone shards, a storm of fire and pain rained down around the golden dragon as he attempted to shield himself with his wings. It was as if the skies had opened up and rained fire filled shrapnel grenades upon the world below. One particularly rock-sized bug slammed into the dragons head, forcing him onto one knee as he felt the bone shards dig into his face and draw blood.

"DAMMIT, JAUNE!" He heard his elder cry out before he was engulfed in green.

When the dragon opened his eyes, he found himself encased inside some sort of cocoon constructed of vines. "Dammit... I screwed up..." Jaune muttered to himself as he felt his body growing weak. "Sorry, Pyrrha... I've screwed you over twice now..." He finished as he fell to the ground with a thud, his consciousness fading shortly afterwards.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Now it's time for some ACTION! And just in time for Volume 4!  
Oh, and for those that don't know, I've recently released another story called A Werewolf in Sheeps clothing.  
It's another supernatural Jaune-centric fic, and as the title implies, Jaune is indeed a Werewolf.  
It's also a knightshade fic and is much slower and has a slightly more serious tone than Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc.  
So if that sounds interesting to you at all, I hope you will check it out.

Until next time, here's to the premiere of Volume 4!


	32. Change of Plans

**Author's Notes**

We're back, a Dragon's story!

Thank you for everyone who was patient enough to wait for me to get over my funk, your patience has been awarded with the continuation of the story!

With this new update, I am proud to announce that Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc will return to it's schedule of being updated every 7-8 days.

Unfortunately for some, I am pushing my other story, a Werewolf in Sheep's Clothing, update time to 14-15 days.

But more good news on top of that sort of bad, I'm also beginning to work on a new story!

Unfortunately, it isn't a Jaune-centric fic. Instead it will focus on the real stars of the show, team RWBY. However, team JNPR won't just be left out in the cold for this new fic! In fact, they'll be teaming up with team CFVY, while team RWBY will eventually get a supporting team of OC's of my own creation to help them out. (Which has probably just turned off so many people to that story, but seriously you guys they're SUPPORTING characters! Team RWBY is still the focus!) And the story will also feature a different path from the canon (Which I'm sure turned off a few more people.) by making the Grimm the major antagonistic threat, along with Dr. Merlot from the game Grimm Eclipse as a side antagonist!

Once again though, I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me for this long. And while this chapter isn't action packed, don't fret. The next one will be... pretty cool. Let's just leave it at that.

* * *

The sound of buzzing still permeated throughout Jaune's thoughts as he lay in his state of unconsciousness. It wasn't until he remembered what had happened did he somehow force himself back into consciousness, his eyes snapping open. "PYRRHA!" He could feel the sweat dripping down his face as he glanced to look at his surroundings. They were surprisingly... calm? And he was indoors. Had Reus pulled the two of them into the building that they were trying to get to?

He laid still for a little longer, listening to his surroundings in the event that there was still a possible threat nearby. He could only hear footsteps and one other sound that was very easy to pick out. The sound of snoring. More specifically, the sound of Pyrrha snoring softly. It was easy to recognize it, since all three of them had heard so much of it during their time at Beacon. It was by no means a loud snore, but it was one that was still noticeable if all was quiet. Even without his draconic hearing aide.

With the snoring being a sign that his partner was safe, he slowly began to drag himself off of the ground and sit upright. A low groan escaped from his mouth as his body began to ache and burn, the remaining sensations from his very brief battle no doubt.

"JAUNE!"

He felt the breath inside of his lungs get forcefully ejected as Nora tackled him into a hug. Even though he was quite large, and her hands didn't wrap around his body all the way, she still managed to keep him in a crushing grip as she hugged him. Then again, she rode around on Ursa's for fun, so anything that was roughly their size would be free game for her no matter how strong it was. And he was roughly the size of an Ursa.

"No-Nora! Air!" He gasped as he struggled to free himself from her grip. Unfortunately, the action was taken in the completely wrong way as the ginger began tightening her grip even further. Of all the things that could kill him, Nora would be the thing that did it. Somehow he always knew it would come down to that.

"Ms. Valkyrie, please stop trying to see if you can snap a dragon's spine in half, I assure you that you can." Reus stepped over to the pair and placed a hand on the teens shoulder, causing her to ease up a bit.

It took Jaune's vision a few moments to fix itself after his eyes threatened to pop out of his skull. With a relieved sigh, he found his body slumping forward a bit. Looking down, he noticed that he was still a dragon, something that he thought would change when he fell into unconsciousness. Then again, whenever he was knocked out as a human he didn't spontaneously turn back into a dragon. "Nnh... Where are we, Reus?"

"We're back at the gas station." The elder dragon explained. "After you destroyed the Maestro's swarm it quickly retreated. That allowed me enough time to carry both you and Ms. Nikos back here for the night."

"Maestro?"

"Jarad Maestro to be exact." Reus noticed the confused glances he was getting and cleared his throat. "That is the name of the Grimm that attacked us. And it proves that we are dealing with a very-" He ducked to the side as Nora's hammer expanded out into it's full form.

"Where is it?! I want to smash it up good!" She growled as she scrambled to her feet, nearly pushing Jaune over once more as she used his body as leverage. However, she stopped in her tracks when Reus stepped in her path and held out his hand in front of her face.

"Calm yourself young one, this is not the time for being out in the open. Grimm will be far more savage come nightfall. And since you are neither Faunus nor Dragon, you will be at a disadvantage in the darkness." The warnings did not deter the young warrior as she moved around him and continued to stomp towards the door. "Ah, Mister Ren? I believe I may require your assistance."

As if on cue, Ren's head appeared from the hole in the wall that lead to the employee break room. "Nora. Please calm down and listen to what our teacher has to say." Nora seemed to calm down at his words, but only marginally so. She reluctantly folded up her weapon and turned to lean on a nearby shelf that was still standing, a look being firmly plastered on her face that seemed to suggest that they should provide her with a more detailed reason as to why she shouldn't go charging out into the town and rampage through it.

"Thank you, Ren. How is Ms. Nikos doing?" The elder dragon noticed his pupil's ears perk up at the mention of his partner.

Ren briefly turned his head and glanced at the person in question before responding. "She's fine. The damage she sustained was far from being dangerous, most of the bites were blocked enough by her aura. So there was almost no blood."

Reus nodded. The young gladiator had done well against the swarm of insects that had enveloped her. If he to wager a guess, he would say it was her shield that forced the cloud to temporarily dissipate, the large metal object doing wonders for swatting away annoyances, no matter how small they might have been. "As much as I would prefer not asking, would it be possible for Ms. Nikos to wake up, if only for a few moments? I have important information that everyone must hear."

Ren's eyes fell upon Jaune's, the both of them sharing an uneasy glance. They were in a Grimm infested town, yes. But their teammate was injured and recovering. Was it really the best idea to wake her up? "Sir? Shouldn't we maybe let her rest a bit longer?"

"She can go back to resting as soon as she is briefed on our enemy. As harsh as this might sound, out here there is no true relief. Temporary or otherwise." The elder dragon followed Ren into the back room, stepping over the broken pieces of the wall carefully, with both Nora and Jaune following quickly after her, after he had shifted back into his human form so he could fit through the hole.

* * *

Jaune winced as he looked at his partner resting in her sleeping bag. While most of the bite marks had healed substantially, they were still dotting her skin en mass. She wouldn't have ended up like this if he had simply been honest with his feelings for her...

"Pyrrha?" Ren whispered as he nudged her shoulder. "You need to get up for a moment. It's important." The redhead responded by lightly smacking the hand away, mumbling something incoherent in her sleep as she rolled over once again. Ren simply sighed in response. "Jaune? Would you mind?" Pyrrha had always been hard to wake up if your name wasn't Jaune Arc. And it seemed that even after their small schism, this fact still rang true.

Jaune rolled his eyes as he stepped forward, his arm reaching out for his partners shoulder. "Pyrrha, you need to wake up." He whispered as he nudged her in the same manner that Ren did. Almost immediately, the gladiators eyes shot open. With a small yawn, she sat up from her sleeping bag and attempted to get on her feet.

"Jaune? Are you-" She wobbled for a moment, nearly toppling back into her bag. "Woah, I feel so... what happened to me?"

"Tell me Ms. Nikos," Reus stepped forward, pushing both Jaune and Ren out of the way lightly. "What do you remember?"

"Professor Reus? I... I remember walking through the abandoned car dealership... then Jaune startled me, and we started to talk. You came in and startled both of us, and then..." Her face lit up with fear. "The Grimm! Where- what happened? There was a huge insectoid Grimm, a black cloud, and then we were running and-"

"Calm down, Ms. Nikos. We are safe now." He placed a hand on her shoulder, though the way she tensed up under his touch told him that it did little to help. "Jaune destroyed the swarm and drove the creature off before collapsing to the ground from a particularly devastating counter attack. Something that I hope he learns from." He added in a small glare as he turned to Jaune, who simply shrugged in response. "I proceeded to carry the two of you back to the gas station, where we are now currently residing."

"I... I see." She looked down at her body, noting the large amount of bite marks that decorated her skin. She remembered very little of what had happened, but the buzzing noises from the swarm still echoed in her mind whenever her eyes gazed upon her wounds. A hiss left her mouth as her hand ran up her opposite arm, a mixed sensation of burning and stinging exploded from the areas that still had bite marks on them. "What exactly was that Grimm?"

"That is actually what I wanted to talk to you all about. That Grimm has changed our mission greatly, simply because of it's appearance."

Everyone shared a brief glance before Nora spoke out. "How can a single dumb Grimm change our whole mission just like that?"

Reus stood to his full height and cleared his throat as he walked to a nearby chair that was, surprisingly enough, still useable. "The Jarad Maestro, is a very specialized type of Grimm that is not native to the continent of Sanus." He stated as he sat down in the chair. Glancing around, he could already see the confused stares forming on the children's faces. "It is a Grimm that is native to the wastelands of Vacuo, and even then it is an extremely rare sight."

"If it isn't native to Sanus then what is it doing here?"

"That is precisely what has me so concerned. Maestro's do not travel across continents, they cannot maintain flight for more than a few seconds. Which means that the only possible way it could be here is if it was brought here."

The four students glanced back and forth between each other, all of them unsure as to what that truly meant. "Are you saying that perhaps it was put here on purpose?" Pyrrha asked as she shuffled around her sleeping bag. The rest of them all rolled the question around in their heads. If it HAD been brought here on purpose, then what exactly WAS the purpose? It couldn't have been for research, Grimm research labs are far more secure and never have civilians living nearby.

Selling the Grimm was also out of the question, because not only was buying and selling Grimm the stupidest idea that could be conceived, it was also nearly impossible due to the fact that Grimm die when in captivity for extended periods of time. And the only way to safely transport a Grimm across large distances with it in captivity is to have a constant source of strong negative emotion nearby for it to feast on.

"I don't see many other ways of it logically being here. And if it WAS brought here, then the only reason I can imagine it being done so is not a pleasant one. Maestro's are known for efficiently wiping out groups with their swarms of locusts. Because of the fact that they puppeteer said swarms with a special type of sound produced by rubbing their bone plated legs together, they can decimate an entire town without ever needing to reveal themselves."

Jaune rubbed his chin as he mulled over Reus's words. "Are..." His eyes widened. "Are you saying that it was brought here to wipe this town out?"

"I cannot say for sure, but that is the most likely option. Which also means that there are at least two more around the town somewhere."

"Why two more? If they are so strong why would someone risk bringing more than one?" Pyrrha asked as she finally gave up on standing and sat back down.

"Maestro's travel in packs of three. Though, the largest recorded pack size has been up to 10, they are very gluttonous type of Grimm that will slay their brethren just for more food."

"So wait, you're telling me..." Jaune began, his hands balling into fists as his anger grew. "...that someone brought Grimm here just to kill everyone?!" His teeth clacked together as he finished his sentence before he began grinding them profusely. Reus nodded, causing him to let out a low growl in response. "Why?"

"Humans are known to be quite spiteful..." Reus glanced over to the humans present in the room. "No offense." He added on just to be safe. Pyrrha avoided the elder dragons gaze while Nora and Ren simply shrugged the statement off. "It does not surprise me that one, or more likely a group, of them were spurned hard enough to make them conspire against the town for revenge."

"So then, what should our plan be?" In most situations, he would be the one to think of a plan. But when dealing with an extremely dangerous Grimm that they had never even heard of before, he knew that the more experienced mind should have complete control.

"...There is nothing we can really do in this situation but wait." Reus noticed the shocked and confused expressions on each of his students faces, prompting him to go into further detail. "Our mission was to protect the town and figure out why the Grimm activity had risen. The town is lost, and it is being occupied by Grimm that are not natural to this continent. That alone warrants a single team of professional huntsman at the very least. So now, our objective is to simply await our extraction tomorrow afternoon and report our findings to the Headmaster of Beacon directly."

Despite the logic of his explanation, team JNPR was having trouble accepting their new directives. "Listen." Reus began, "Not every battle is won. Nor is every mission a successful one. It is our job to protect the innocent, but this is something that is a true impossibility. You cannot protect everyone, everywhere all at once. As we speak right now, hundreds, perhaps even thousands, are dying to Grimm alone. That number increases if you factor in natural disasters and people along with our soulless foes."

And it was something that many hunters and huntresses learned during their time out in the field. Yet these children were just that. They weren't ready for the harsh truths that came with graduation. And he didn't like being the one to tell them all this in the first place. "However, we still try regardless of that fact. And even if we fail to save everyone, or anyone at all, we can still use the knowledge of that incident to save others."

"But..." Nora interrupted, "What does that have to do with us smashing Grimm as payback?"

"If we were to waste time and energy on every Grimm we saw, we would tire and succumb long before they did. Such is the power of greater numbers. And if we were to fall, our knowledge would be lost to the ages. Knowledge is a very important thing that should be preserved above petty things such as personal quarrels, for knowledge shapes the future." He smiled as he placed a hand on his chin, his fingers rubbing at his skin. "That is something that I learned from a very smart young man many years ago."

Jaune folded his arms and stared at the floor. He didn't really like the idea of just running away with their tail between their legs like that, but Reus was entirely right. There was no point in fighting a battle with no real goal in mind. He had learned that during initiation. "And not only that, Nora..." He had his team's safety to think about as well. "Pyrrha is hurt."

"No! I'm fine!" The redhead gladiator responded as she attempted to stand. "Really, it's just a few bites! See?" She presented herself to the rest of them, her legs only wobbling slightly, but holding nonetheless.

"Oh yeah... that's right... Can't risk Pyrrha getting even more hurt." Nora agreed while scratching her chin. "I guess we'll just have to stay safe until the bullhead comes to pick us up then!"

"Really, I'm alright!"

"Then it's settled, I suppose." Reus stated before clapping his hands together. With a small smile, he watched as Pyrrha slumped back into her sleeping bag in defeat.

"Please do not take it personally, Ms. Nikos. We are only thinking of your safety. Speaking of which, you should go back to resting. That way you will be ready for tomorrow in case you are needed." Pyrrha nodded in response, the gladiator fully tucked herself back into her bag with a small sigh. Shortly afterwards, Reus shuffled the rest of the group out into the main section of the gas station to give her some peace.

* * *

The sun had all but vanished from the sky when they had finished their group meeting, a thick layer of darkness settling over the ghost town. Reus had volunteered to take the first watch as the rest of them slept. Little did they know, that his watch would be the only one. For him, staying up a night would be no problem whatsoever. And eventually, Jaune would be able to do the same. In fact, Reus remembered the times where he spent entire weeks without sleep.

Admittedly, those weeks were some of the worst of his life, but it did prove that he could still be effective in combat with even no sleep. As his students began to settle into their sleeping bags, the elder dragon stepped outside and hopped onto the gas station with very little effort. He did catch a small gasp of awe from one Ms. Valkyrie as she watched him leap into the air with little effort, something that made him smile to himself. Humans and Faunus were so easy to impress sometimes.

He sat down on the roof of the structure and gazed out at the ruined town. Only now was he starting to realize how large it was given its distance from the kingdom. And judging by the defensive walls that surrounded the town along with the automated turrets that were mounted upon said wall, the inhabitants were used to engaging Grimm in combat on a regular basis. One of the many outposts, if he had to wager a guess, that dotted the landscape of Sanus. The humans here had always been a fickle bunch, those that crowded into the kingdom of Vale seemed to be rather fine with having no real defenses aside from the Hunters and Huntresses that they trained.

And those that disagreed with an idea that was deemed so asinine plunged themselves into the lush wilderness of the continent, leaving behind the relative safety that came with being in such large numbers to form their own safe havens with actual defenses. He could not see why humans had always chosen to be so divided in how they stood, or how they had survived for as long as they did by doing so. And while the Faunus were always a close-knit species, they too occasionally suffered from cracks in their fellowship.

His eyes glazed over one of the mounted guns on the wall closest to the gas station. It was still in working condition, despite the large dents and years of wear that dotted the impressive technological weapon. It was unfortunate that such a gun could not help them at all. It was obviously designed for the hordes of Grimm that no doubt came from the surrounding forests, even the largest would find most of their body completely decimated by a single shot from the cannon. But such a weapon was useless against the Grimm that evolved to hunt via more specialized methods like the Maestro's.

"Ren? Nora?" He heard Jaune whisper into the darkness, causing him to tilt his to the side so he could listen better. "You guys awake still?" There was silence for a brief moment before a hushed whisper from Ren pierced it. "We are."

"Can uh, can we talk for a bit?"

Reus wasn't sure why the children were whispering, they knew he was awake. Add that to the fact that their teammate certainly wouldn't be waking up. Ms. Nikos did not snore loudly, but she certainly slept as if she were a rock instead of a person. He had figured that out when the redheaded gladiator began snoring peacefully while being carried back to the gas station. Perhaps they wanted to ensure that their conversation was private?

"So uh, I wanted to say that I'm sorry." Jaune began. "I should have listened to you guys when you told me to talk with Pyrrha. And it's because of me that she ended up like this."

Reus couldn't help but smile. Taking the blame for everything as usual. That much hadn't changed with the youngling, that was for sure. The memories of when Jaune would always shift the blame of things that went wrong onto himself came flooding back to him. Especially when he blamed himself for the death of... the other youngling during that horrid day at the village.

"Pfff. What are you talking about Jaune?" Nora's voice seemed to be louder than the others, yet still in a hushed whisper. "Last I checked you were a dragon not a big bug grimm!"

"But Nora, if I had just talked to her about my feelings, she wouldn't have stormed off on her own!"

"While that may be true," Ren's voice interjected. "I also believe that had everything been fine prior to us being here, you would have sent her off on her own regardless."

Jaune was silent, as he most likely pondered his teammates words. Reus leaned backwards and stared up at the broken moon as he pondered the words as well. He knew Jaune well enough, and while the words that Ren would most likely speak next would ease his leaders regrets, they would not quell them completely.

"And if Pyrrha had gone off on her own, neither you nor Professor Reus would have gone to check on her." Ren waited a moment to see if Jaune would put two and two together. When he was met with more silence, he continued. "What I'm trying to say is, it is very possible that the Jarad Maestro would have found and killed Pyrrha."

Reus's smile grew a bit. Ren had a very good point, the outcome of today's events was a very forgiving one all things considered. If neither one of them had been there, Ms. Nikos would have most likely fallen with ease. And more importantly, if he himself had not been there it was entirely possible that both of them would have ended up dead. While it was true that the Maestro fled when it lost its swarm, that was most likely because of the fact that he himself was present. If he had not been present, the Maestro may have simply executed the two of them before it retreated.

"I... I guess. But either way, she ends up hurt. Or worse..."

"Jaune, come on!" A small slap rang out, indicating that Nora had most likely hit Jaune. "Stop trying to take the blame for everything! We're huntsmen! This kinda stuff happens to us all the time! We just gotta shake it off and keep on trucking!"

"She's right, Jaune. There's no sense dwelling on the past. And even if you insist on doing so, it should be done when we are safe."

Jaune let out a sigh. "I guess you're right..."

There was silence again. "So uh..." Until Nora spoke out once more. "What... what happened with you and Pyrrha? Did you guys make up?"

"Uh... Well..." The sounds of fidgeting could be heard. "We tried? She said that she would try, I mean. She'd try to get past this. But we really didn't get to have a good private talk because Reus came in." The man in question winced at his mention. Perhaps he shouldn't have interfered the way that he did. It was a bad habit of his. "And then the Maestro showed up and put a stop to all that completely. But uh... It went better then I thought it would at least? N-not the Grimm attack! Just, the talk."

"Well, she didn't seem to be grumpy when we woke her up. So I guess that's a sign that things are okay now!" Nora yawned loudly. "Well, I'm glad that you guys made up. It's not right for family to fight like that."

"Yeah. I'm glad too." Jaune let out a heavy sigh before the sounds of shuffling returned for a brief moment. "Well, thanks for the pep talk guys. I'm going to try to get some sleep now."

"Night, Jaune!"

Reus listened closely as the children stirred for a few more minutes, then fell completely silent. He pondered the young Ms. Nora's words as he listened to the sounds of their slowed breathing.

Family.

It was a strange word for dragons. Because of their pride, referring to a non-dragon as a family member was something that was often mocked. Even calling a dragon of a different prismatic flight a part of your family was considered something rather foolish. It often took years of bonding just for a dragon to consider a human or faunus a trusted enough friend to even reveal their secret to. He himself had only revealed his true nature to two individuals. And yet here was a young dragon who considered three people close enough friends to reveal his secret to, on top of considering them a family.

And what of the other team that knew of his secret? He had done his research only on Jaune's teammates, yet he seemed to be just as close to this team "RWBY" as they were called. A faunus, an heiress and two sisters who were not even aware of what either of them truly were. And on top of that, he even attracted the affection of the blonde one. Either Jaune had terribly good luck, or perhaps maybe this was fates way of preparing him for a harsh future.

With a sigh, Reus turned back to scanning the town for any unusual activities. His attention was grasped by a rather unearthly howl that echoed in the distant forest. He stared intently in its direction for quite some time, perhaps even hours. He had lost count.

No matter how harsh the future may be for the young golden dragon, he would ensure that the youngling would be alive to see it.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

"Jarad" means Locust in Arabic.  
So the name Jarad Maestro translates directly to Locust Maestro in English.  
I had some trouble coming up with a decent name for this one, but I think this is an alright end result.


	33. Announcement

**Author's Notice**

* * *

I'd like to begin this notice by apologizing for the lack of updates on my other fics for those of you that read them. I won't go into great detail as to why I haven't updated, since I don't need to bore you all with my problems, but I will say is that it's life issues.

Now, onto the news about this fic.

This version of Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc is no longer being worked on, and I will not be finishing it.

Instead, I am completely rewriting the story from the ground up with a completely new plot, among other changes.

And I'm sure many of you have questions as to why that is, and I'll sum those reasons up quickly. The original VDJA was my first real fic that I put all of my effort into making, and it shows. The formatting was bad, the plot really didn't exist in greater detail outside of a concept and there were many ideas executed in this fic that were bad to begin with.

The new Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc will be a very different creature compared to the original, and while I have begun writing the story, I've already reached a bit of bump that needs to be sorted out.

I have conflicting thoughts with the main ship of the fic. The original ship being Dragonslayer (Jaune and Yang) and while I do still enjoy that ship, I also thought of many different ways a new ship could work in this story.

The new ship would be White Knight (Jaune and Weiss) and is actually one of the Jaune ships I prefer in no particular order.

Since I like both ships (practically equally) and have what is essentially two versions of the same plot that have the potential to be vastly different than others, I would like to know what you, the original viewers of the story would like to see more.

Now I know many people might think that I should write what I want to write, but I also enjoy seeing the opinions of people who read my stories.

I will be putting up a poll on my profile that will allow users to vote on which ship they would prefer to see, and will be using the results as a springboard towards reaching a decision.

And as a final note, I apologize to those of you who liked the original story, and I hope that you will still read the newer version when it eventually goes live.


End file.
